HAND, FOOT, AND MOUTH SYNDROME

Abstract

During the summer and fall of 1963, 76 patients with exanthematous disease were studied and 6 cases of hand, foot, and mouth syndrome due to Coxsackie A 16 virus were noted. Nine virus strains were isolated from the throat in five cases, vesicle fluid in two, rectal swab in one, and serum in one. All strains were isolated in MK tissue culture and many were also isolated in primary human amnion and WI-38 tissue cultures and suckling mice. Five of the 6 patients had a fourfold or greater rise in neutralizing antibody titer to Coxsackie A 16 virus. Fifty-two per cent of all patients with exanthem had convalescent serum neutralizing antibody titers of 40 or greater to Coxsackie A 16 virus and three of these children without virus isolation also had greater than fourfold antibody titer rises. Serum neutralizing antibody to Coxsackie A 16 virus was prevalent in Wisconsin in 1963 but was observed in only one of 50 (2%) serums collected in 1957.