Protecting the most vulnerable from hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Among the more than 20 human enteroviruses that can cause HFMD,[4] enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) stands out as one of the most clinically significant serotypes, being associated with severe disease outcomes more frequently than other common causes such as coxsackievirus A16. Although these vaccines are already being used in China for opt-in community vaccination programmes, they are indicated only for children older than 6 months.[7] Additionally, even though vaccine effectiveness had been evaluated and deemed effective, in a test-negative case-control study by Wang and colleagues,[7] vaccine effectiveness for younger children aged 6-23 months was lower than that for those aged 24-71 months. 120, 2007, e244-e252 7 X Wang, Z An, D Huo, Enterovirus A71 vaccine effectiveness in preventing enterovirus A71 infection among medically-attended hand, foot, and mouth disease cases, Beijing, China. [Extracted from the article]