From 1998 through 2002, specimens positive using the pan-EV primers were tested for the presence of HEV71 genome by RT-PCR using the primers 159S and 162A, which anneal to the VP1 gene of HEV71. Dr. Mark Pallansch (Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta) generously made the primer sequences available to us prior to publication [19] . All PCR products were sequenced to confirm the identification. In 2002, we changed our protocol for identification of HEV71 due to problems of misidentification of local strains of CVA16 as HEV71 using the primer set 159S/162A [20] . Currently, HEV71 specific primers designed in-house are used for specific identification of HEV71 [20] . All primers used are listed in Table 1 .