Enterovirus 71

Last revised by Bahman Rasuli on 7 Apr 2021

Enterovirus 71 is one of the viruses that causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease in children. It is an enterovirus, one of the picornaviruses.

Infection with enterovirus 71 predominantly results in a vesicular rash of the hands and feet that follows a prodrome of symptoms including fever, vomiting and oral mucosal ulceration.

In most cases, the initial infection wanes and symptoms and signs resolve. However in rare cases, it may be followed by severe neurological infection resulting in aseptic meningitis, brainstem encephalitis and even acute flaccid paralysis akin to paralytic poliomyelitis.

Stages of disease

Shen et al. 2 described 5 symptomatic stages:

  • grade 1:
    • fever, anorexia, erythema and skin manifestations;
    • resolution within a week for most patients
  • grade 2:
    • fever, restlessness, vomiting, headache and abdominal pain;
    • most patients recover, some progress to grade 3 (those less than 2 years old may progress directly to grade 4)
  • grade 3:
    • akin to grade 2 symptoms but with tachycardia and brainstem symptoms like cranial nerve palsy (6, 7, 9 - 12), auditory hallucinations, ocular disturbance, dyspnea and ataxia;
    • improvement in 3 - 4 days with recovery in 1 - 2 weeks (aside from those less than 2 years who tended to progress to grade 4)
  • grade 4:
    • hypothermia, pulmonary edema, respiratory failure and neurogenic shock
  • grade 5:
    • pulmonary hemorrhage, respiratory distress syndrome, circulatory collapse and death

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