Molecular serotyping of non-HEV71 enteroviruses isolated was carried out using the methods and sequences published by Oberste and colleagues [21] and Chu, Ishiko and colleagues [22, 23] . Prior to 2002, serotyping of selected non-HEV71 enteroviruses was performed exclusively according to Oberste's method. When Ishiko's method [23] was published in 2002, we made a comparison of the methods by serotyping new isolates using both methods. We determined that for human species A enteroviruses circulating in our region, Ishiko's primers gave identical serotype identification to that obtained using Oberste's method [21] . Since there was no discrepancy between the methods, we modified Ishiko's primers to convert the method from a semi-nested to a non-nested method for ease of use. Our modifications were verified and described by Cardosa and colleagues [24] . We then retrospectively retested all non-HEV71 enteroviruses isolated prior to 2002 using the modified method.