Evolutionary and Genetic Recombination Analyses of Coxsackievirus A6 Variants Associated with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Outbreaks in Thailand between 2019 and 2022

Evolutionary and Genetic Recombination Analyses of Coxsackievirus A6 Variants Associated with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Outbreaks in Thailand between 2019 and 2022

Blog Article

Coxsackievirus (CV)-A6 infections cause hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in children and adults.Despite the serious public health threat presented by CV-A6 infections, our understanding of the mechanisms by which new CV-A6 strains emerge remains limited.This study investigated the molecular epidemiological trends, evolutionary dynamics, and recombination characteristics of CV-A6-associated HFMD in Thailand between 2019 and 2022.In the HFMD patient samples collected during the 4-year study period, we identified enterovirus (EV) RNA in 368 samples (48.7%), of which CV-A6 (23.

7%) was the predominant genotype, followed by CV-A4 (6%), EV-A71 (3.7%), and CV-A16 (3.4%).According to BB cream the partial viral protein (VP) 1 sequences, all these CV-A6 strains belonged to the D3 clade.Based on the viral-RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene, four recombinant forms (RFs), Endcap Stabilizer RF-A (147, 84.

5%), RF-N (11, 6.3%), RF-H (1, 0.6%), and newly RF-Y (15, 8.6%), were identified throughout the study period.Results from the similarity plot and bootscan analyses revealed that the 3D polymerase (3Dpol) region of the D3/RF-Y subclade consists of sequences highly similar to CV-A10.

We envisage that the epidemiological and evolutionarily insights presented in this manuscript will contribute to the development of vaccines to prevent the spread of CV-A6 infection.