Sentinel surveillance for human enterovirus 71 in Sarawak, Malaysia: lessons from the first 7 years.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A major outbreak of human enterovirus 71-associated hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak in 1997 marked the beginning of a series of outbreaks in the Asia Pacific region. Some of these outbreaks had unusually high numbers of fatalities and this generated much fear and anxiety in the region.

Methods

We established a sentinel surveillance programme for hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak, Malaysia, in March 1998, and the observations of the first 7 years are described here. Virus isolation, serotyping and genotyping were performed on throat, rectal, vesicle and other swabs.

Results

During this period Sarawak had two outbreaks of human enterovirus 71, in 2000 and 2003. The predominant strains circulating in the outbreaks of 1997, 2000 and 2003 were all

SUBMITTER: Podin Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1543637 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature