ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the distribution of sex, month of onset and type of infection virus in children with hand, foot and mouth disease of different TCM syndromes in Heilongjiang province. Methods A total of 2 688 hospitalized children who met the admission criteria in the Infectious Disease Department of Harbin Infectious Disease Hospital from September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2016 were selected. The TCM syndrome differentiation according to the clinical manifestations of children on the day of admission. The distribution of sex, month of onset and type of infection virus in children with different syndrome types were analyzed by SPSS 19.0 software. Results Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) was more common in males than females in Heilongjiang, with a ratio of 1.58:1. Children of all sexes with hand, foot and mouth disease in Heilongjiang were predominantly with lung-defense syndrome. The incidence of lung-defense syndrome, lung-stomach heat syndrome, damp-heat syndrome and heart-spleen heat syndrome were the majority among the children aged 1-4 years, and the lung-defense syndrome was the highest proportion. From July to September, most of the cases occurred, especially in the case of lung-defense syndrome. Pathogenic tests showed that 1 456 cases were enterovirus universal RNA positive, 203 cases were enterovirus 71 positive and 108 cases were coxsackievirus A16 positive. The most common pathogens of the three pathogens were pathogenic lung-defense syndrome. Conclusions herewere some differences in age, time and virus infection among 2 688 children with hand, foot and mouth disease of different TCM syndromes in Heilongjiang, which may be related to region and climate.