[Fatal case of enterovirus A71 hand, foot, and mouth disease infection]

Hand, foot, and mouth disease associated with enterovirus (EV) infections is a common pediatric pathology that is usually considered as benign. However, neurological complications of varying severity, sometimes fatal, are possible, particularly when EV-A71 is involved. Several Asian countries are regularly affected by large-scale epidemics of EV infections with substantial morbidity and mortality, where early screening and appropriate therapeutic management are a public health challenge. In 2016, Europe experienced an epidemic of unusual magnitude, associated with increasing cases of severe neurological complications in Spain and France, mainly affecting children. Virological diagnosis is based on EV genome detection in peripheral clinical specimens (vesicles or oral ulcerations, throat, nasopharyngeal aspirate, stool) in addition to cerebrospinal fluid and blood. EV-A71 is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid, which renders the diagnosis of EV-A71-associated encephalitis challenging. We report the case of a 27-month-old child with hand, foot, and mouth disease turning into rapidly progressive and fatal cardiopulmonary failure associated with EV-A71 infection, in France in 2016. EV infections associated with hand, foot, and mouth disease warrant specific epidemiological surveillance outside the Asian region.