Enterovirus

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a highly infectious disease common among early childhood populations caused by human enteroviruses (Enterovirus genus).1 The enteroviruses responsible for HFMD generally cause mild illness among children in the United States with symptoms of fever and rash/blisters, but have also been linked to small outbreaks of severe neurological disease such as meningitis, encephalitis, and acute flaccid myelitis.2 Enteroviruses circulate year-round but increase in the summer-fall months across much of the United States.3 The drivers of this seasonality are not fully understood, but research indicates climatic factors, rather than demographic ones, are most likely to drive the amplitude and timing of the seasonal peaks.3 A recent CDC study on nonpolio enteroviruses identified dew point temperature as a strong predictor of local enterovirus seasonality, explaining around 30% of the variation in intensity of transmission across the United States.3

Objective: To assess the relationship between seasonal increases in emergency department (ED) and urgent care center (UCC) visits for hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) among children 0-4 years old and average dew point temperatures in Virginia. To determine if this relationship can be used to develop an early warning tool for high intensity seasons of HFMD, allowing for earlier targeted public health action and communication to the community and local childcare centers during these high intensity seasons.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood viral infection, characterised by a brief febrile illness, vesicular rashes on the hands and feet and mouth ulcers. HFMD is endemic in Singapore, with more than 50% of cases occurring in children below 5 years of age.1 Enterovirus 71 (EV71), coxsackievirus A6 (CA6) and A16 (CA16) were the major enteroviruses causing nationwide HFMD epidemics in Singapore in recent years. We estimated the basic reproduction number (R0), which measures the infectiousness of a pathogen in a given population, of these enteroviruses to have a better understanding of the transmission dynamics.

Objective

To estimate the basic reproduction number of enterovirus 71, coxsackievirus A6 and A16 in hand, foot, and mouth disease outbreaks in Singapore, for a better understanding of the transmission dynamics of these enteroviruses.

Objective: Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EID/REID) involve large populations at risk and thus they might lead to rapidly increasing cases or case fatality rates. Living in this global village, cross-country or cross-continent spread has occurred more frequently in recent decades, implying that epidemics of any infectious disease can expand from local to national to international if control efforts are not effective.