The major causative agents of HFMD are coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16), human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) and coxsackievirus A10 (CVA10) of the genus Enterovirus in the family Picornaviridae [2] . Other enteroviruses isolated from HFMD cases are the other species A human enteroviruses such as coxsackievirus A (CVA) 4, CVA5, CVA6 and CVA7, and coxsackievirus B (CVB) 1, CVB2, CVB3 and CVB5 [2] [3] [4] . Unlike other aetiological agents of HFMD that normally cause mild disease, HEV71 infection has been reported to cause neurological disease manifesting as aseptic meningitis, encephalitis or poliomyelitis-like acute flaccid paralysis [5] . First isolated from a child suffering from encephalitis in California in 1969, HEV71 was further isolated from 23 cases with severe neurological disease in California during the next three years [3] . Historically, HEV71-associated outbreaks have been reported in Australia in 1972 [6] , Japan in 1973 and 1978 [7] , Bulgaria in 1975 [8] and Hungary in 1978 [9] .