[Atypical hand-foot-mouth disease virus genotyping in a pediatric hospital in Buenos Aires city, Argentina]

Typical hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) is an exanthematous viral disease with a classic symptomatology of fever, papulovesicular rash on the hands and feet with or without herpangina. It is usually caused by enterovirus 71 and Coxsackievirus A16, members of the genus Enterovirus. Recently, worldwide outbreaks of HFMD with atypical manifestations caused by Coxsackievirus A6 have been described. Atypical HFMD is considered an emerging disease due to its peculiar clinical and epidemiological characteristics: it affects adults, has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations in the extension and distribution of the lesions and occurs in winter. The morphological characteristics of the lesions are very variable and can be misdiagnosed as chickenpox, impetigo or vasculitis. Here we describe the symptoms, clinical evolution, diagnostic methodology and treatment employed on a 4-yearold male patient with atypical HFMD.