Abstract: Objective　To detect the pathogens by real-time fluorescence quantitation polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) and provide the reference for the prevention of hand-foot-mouth disease. Methods　Throat swab and vesicle fluid were collected from 189 suspected children with hand-foot-mouth disease and 39 children with close contact to hand-foot-mouth disease patients in Anhui county and its neighborhood area. Enterovirus (EV), enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsakievirus A16 (CoxA16) were detected by FQ-PCR, and the results were compared with the results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results　By FQ-PCR, 141 children among the 189 suspected children with hand-foot-mouth disease were detected EV (positive rate: 74.6%), including 91 children between 0 and 3 years old and 50 children between 3 and 5 years old. EV detection rate of 3-5 years old group was obviously lower than that of 0-3 years old group (P<0.05). There were 135 EV71 positive samples and 65 CoxA16 positive samples. The positive rate of throat swab samples was 74.5% (120/161), and that of vesicle fluid samples was 82.1% (23/28). There were 76(40.2%) EV positive samples by ELISA. The positive rate of EV in 39 children with close contact to hand-foot-mouth disease patients by FQ-PCR was 33.3%(13/39). The positive rate by ELISA was 17.9%(7/39). Conclusions　FQ-PCR has high specificity, sensitivity, efficiency and speed, which contributes to its important value as detection method of pathogen causing hand-foot-mouth disease and epidemiological study.

Key words: Real-time fluorescence polymerase chain reaction, Hand-foot-mouth disease, Enterovirus