Tropical Biomedicine 38(1): 150-153 (2021) https://doi.org/10.47665/tb.38.1.026 RESEARCH ARTICLE Detection of enteroviruses during a 2018 hand, foot and mouth disease outbreak in Malaysia Lee, M.H.P.1, Chong, Y.M.1, Tay, C.G.2, Koh, M.T.2, Chem, Y.K.3, Noordin, N.3, Jahis, R.4, Sam, I.C.1, Chan, Y.F.1* 1Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3National Public Health Laboratory, Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia 4Zoonosis Sector, Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health, Putrajaya, Malaysia *Corresponding author:
[email protected] ARTICLE HISTORY ABSTRACT Received: 3 August 2020 Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood disease caused by Revised: 5 December 2020 enteroviruses. In 2018, a HFMD outbreak in Malaysia affected over 76,000 children. In this Accepted: 6 December 2020 study, we used RT-qPCR and CODEHOP PCR to detect the causative agents in 89 clinically Published: 25 March 2021 diagnosed HFMD patients in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Most (62.9%) of the children were below 3 years old. PCR with either assay detected enteroviruses in 84.2% (75/89) and CODEHOP PCR successfully typed 66.7% (50/75) of the enteroviruses. Sequencing of CODEHOP amplicons showed co-circulation of multiple enteroviruses with coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) and A16 as the predominant serotypes, but not the neurovirulent enterovirus A71. CV-A6 infection was more common in children less than 12 months old (p=0.01) and was more likely to cause vesicles in the gluteal area (p=0.01) compared to other enteroviruses.