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Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) is caused by a group of enteroviruses, most commonly coxsackievirus A 16 (CA16) and enterovirus 71 (EV71). In general, the disease is mild and self-limited except in the case of EV71 infections, which may incur serious complications. This research focused on virus characterization of HFMD cases in Thailand from 2008-2009, related clinical findings and complications of specific enterovirus subtypes. Specimens (stool, vesicle fluid, throat swab/sputum) from 48 cases were collected during 2008-2009. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by direct sequencing and phylogenetic analysis served to detect enterovirus and determine subtype. Enterovirus was found in 58.3% (28/48) of cases, specifically EV71 (n=23), CA16 (n=4), and CA10 (n=1). Two patients infected by EV71 had brainstem encephalitis (one death). Eight patients required hospital admission due to dehydration. Of these, 3 were PCR positive for EV71, 1 for CA16, and the reminder negative. This study demonstrated EV71 as the most prevalent present cause of HFMD in Thailand in 2008-2009. Potentially fatal complications of HFMD should be taken into consideration. Surveillance of epidemiology and monitoring of disease severity should be continued, and as a prevention measure, sanitation and hygiene should be improved.

Summary Objective To determine the prevalence of human rhinoviruses (HRV) infections in children with lower respiratory disease in Thailand and monitor the association between species of HRV and clinical presentation in hospitalized paediatric patients. Method Two hundred and eighty-nine nasopharyngeal (NP) suction specimens were collected from hospitalized paediatric patients admitted to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thailand during February 2006–2007. Nucleic acids were extracted from each sample with subsequent amplification of VP4/2 by semi-nested RT-PCR for HRV detection. Other viral respiratory pathogens were also detected by PCR, RT-PCR or real time PCR. Nucleotide sequences of the VP4 region were used for genotyping and phylogenetic tree construction. Result In total, 87 of 289 specimens were positive for HRV indicating an annual prevalence of 30%. Wheezing or asthma exacerbation was the most common clinical presentation observed in infected patients. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic tree showed that 29 (33%) and 8 (9%) specimens belonged to HRV-A and HRV-B, respectively. Most of the HRV positive samples were HRV-C (58%). Moreover, species C was predominantly found in the paediatric population of Thailand in raining season (p