Seroepidemiology of enterovirus A71 infection in prospective cohort studies of children in southern China, 2013-2018

Juan Yang (1) , Qiaohong Liao (1, 2) , Kaiwei Luo (3) , Fengfeng Liu (2) , Yonghong Zhou (3) , Gang Zou (4) , Wei Huang (3) , Shuanbao Yu (2) , Xianglin Wei (1) , Jiaxin Zhou (1) , Bingbing Dai , Qi Qiu (1) , Ralf Altmeyer (4) , Hongan Hu , Juliette Paireau (5, 6) , Li Luo , Lidong Gao , Birgit Nikolay (6) , Shixiong Hu , Weijia Xing (7) , Peng Wu (8) , H. Rogier van Doorn (9, 10) , Peter W Horby (10) , Peter Simmonds (9) , Gabriel M Leung (8) , Benjamin J Cowling (8) , Simon Cauchemez (6) , Hongjie Yu (1)

1 Fudan University [Shanghai]
2 Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
3 Hunan provincial center for disease control and prevention
4 IPS-CAS - Institut Pasteur de Shanghai, Académie des Sciences de Chine - Chinese Academy of Sciences
5 Direction des maladies infectieuses - Infectious Diseases Division [Saint-Maurice]
6 Modélisation mathématique des maladies infectieuses - Mathematical modelling of Infectious Diseases
7 Shandong First Medical University
8 HKU - The University of Hong Kong
9 OUCRU - Oxford University Clinical Research Unit [Ho Chi Minh City]
10 University of Oxford

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71)–related hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) imposes a substantial clinical burden in the Asia Pacific region. To inform policy on the introduction of the EV-A71 vaccine into the National Immunization Programme, we investigated the seroepidemiological characteristics of EV-A71 in two prospective cohorts of children in southern China conducted between 2013 and 2018. Our results show that maternal antibody titres declined rapidly in neonates, with over half becoming susceptible to EV-A71 at 1 month of age. Between 6 months and 2 years of age, over 80% of study participants were susceptible, while one third remained susceptible at 5 years old. The highest incidence of EV-A71 infections was observed in children aged 5-6 months. Our findings support EV-A71 vaccination before 6 months for birth cohorts in southern China, potentially with a one-time catch-up vaccination for children 6 months-5 years old. More regionally representative longitudinal seroepidemiological studies are needed to further validate these findings.

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie

Juan Yang, Qiaohong Liao, Kaiwei Luo, Fengfeng Liu, Yonghong Zhou, et al.. Seroepidemiology of enterovirus A71 infection in prospective cohort studies of children in southern China, 2013-2018. Nature Communications, 2022, 13 (1), pp.7280. ⟨10.1038/s41467-022-34992-1⟩. ⟨pasteur-04095401⟩