Dr  Sampurna Roy  MD

Coxsackieviruses belongs to a group of viruses called enteroviruses.

Enteroviruses includes polioviruses, coxsackievirus and echoviruses.

Visit:   Picornavirus Infection  ; Poliomyelitis  ; Echovirus Infection.

Coxsackieviruses were first isolated in suckling mice from the faeces of two children suffering from a poliomyelitis-like syndrome in the town of Coxsackie, New York.

When additional agents of the same group were isolated, it was recognized that some, called group A, produced generalized myositis and flaccid paralysis in the mice used for isolation.

Others, classified as group B, produced a focal myositis but also affected the myocardium, brown fat, pancreas, and central nervous system.

Damage to the central nervous system results in spastic paralysis.

Coxsackieviruses, like most members of the enterovirus group are transmitted predominantly by the fecal-oral route rather than by respiratory secretions.

They have been associated with the following diseases of children : aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, herpangina, pleurodynia, hand-foot-mouth disease, pericarditis, lymphonodular pharyngitis, epidemic conjunctivitis, and myocarditis .

Hand, foot, and mouth disease:

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is usually characterized by tiny blisters on the inside of the mouth and the palms of the hands, fingers, and soles of the feet.

 It is commonly caused by coxsackievirus A16 (an enterovirus).iIt is a common illness of infants and children.

The disease begins with a mild fever, poor appetite, malaise and frequently a sore throat. One or 2 days after the fever begins, painful sores develop in the mouth. They begin as small red spots that blister and then often become ulcers. 

Nearly all patients recover without medical treatment in 7 to 10 days.  Rarely, the patient with coxsackievirus A16 infection may also develop "aseptic" or viral meningitis.

Another cause of Hand, foot, and mouth disease, Enterovirus 71( EV71) may also cause viral meningitis and, rarely, more serious diseases, such as encephalitis, or a poliomyelitis-like paralysis. EV71 encephalitis may be fatal.