Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has mostly been caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CA16). CA 16 was the most common cause of HFMD in 2010. EV71 had a high prevalence in 2008-2009 and has been identified with a higher frequency since 2011. Nearly complete genome sequences of three EV71 strains (2008-2009 strains) and two CA16 strains (2010 strains) obtained from outbreaks in Thailand in 2008 to 2010 were characterized. Based on a phylogenetic tree of the complete VP1 region, three EV71 strains grouped into the B5, C1 and C4 genotypes, and two CA16 strains grouped into the C genotype. Based on sequence analysis, nucleotide changes were found to cluster in the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element of the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR). Amino acid differences identified in all strains were located in the non-structural protein. These data also provide the molecular epidemiology of EV71 and CA16 outbreaks in Thailand.

WU and KI polyomaviruses represent novel viruses discovered in respiratory secretions from human patients with acute respiratory tract infection. However, the association between WU/KI polyomaviruses and human disease has remained unclear. In this study, the prevalence of these two novel viruses and occurrence of co-infection with other respiratory viruses were determined in Thai pediatric patients with respiratory disease. Previously described PCR assays were applied to detect WU/KI polyomaviruses as well as other respiratory viruses in 302 nasopharyngeal suction specimens collected from February 2006 through February 2007. The results revealed the anneal prevalence of WU and KI polyomaviruses in the Thai population was 6.29% and 1.99%, respectively. The frequency of co-detection of WU and KI polyomaviruses with other respiratory viral pathogens was 42.11% and 33.33%, respectively. Moreover, each of the two complete genome sequences of WU (CU_295 and CU_302) and KI (CU_255 and CU_258) polyomaviruses were genetically and phylogenetically characterized. Sequence analysis showed that they contained features common to those found in previous studies. However, there were several nucleotide variations within the non-coding regulatory regions and various non-synonymous mutations within the coding regions which may influence virulence and pathogenesis of these viruses. Nevertheless, it is still possible that these viruses are not the causative agents of clinical respiratory disease. Therefore, judging the association of WU/KI polyomavirus infections with a particular disease will be challenging and require more comprehensive case control investigations.

We report the case of a Thai male patient with neuralgic amyotrophy, presenting with acute and severe pain in the upper extremities, followed by patchy muscle weakness, associated with hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection. The entire HEV genome was sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis and found to be genotype 3. Data on the most common HEV genotypes circulating in Thailand are scarce. The origin of infection and the mode of HEV transmission in this patient remained inconclusive; however, this study provides essential baseline data as a reference for further genetic analysis of HEV.

Both geographic location and host species influence which HBV variants are found in gibbons and orangutans. Hence, HBV transmission between humans and non-human primates might be a distinct possibility and additional studies will be required to further investigate this potential risk.

The chimpanzee may have been infected with human HAV genotype IB. The substitutions in VP2, VP4, 2B, 2C, and 3D, which may enhance virus proliferation, contributed to disease severity culminating in fulminant hepatic failure.

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In a recent study of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Thailand, viral isolates recovered during several outbreaks of infection that occurred between 2001 and 2005 were genotyped and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Anti-HAV IgM was detected, by ELISA, in many of the 283 serum samples that were collected from the provinces of Suphanburi, Songkhla, Chiangrai and Lampang: 40 (48.2% of those investigated), 38 (47.5%), 25 (41.0%) and 32 (54.2%), respectively. The HAV RNA in the positive samples was reverse transcribed and amplified, using a nested PCR focussed on the VP1-2A region, before the nucleotides of the VP1-2A region of each HAV-RNA-positive sample were sequenced. All the isolates investigated clustered in subgenotype IA and, hence, are closely related to the strains previously investigated in Thailand. When the genome of one sample from an outbreak in Lampang (LP014) was fully sequenced, the results of genome comparison and phylogenetic analysis again indicated subgenotype 1A, which appears to be the predominant form of HAV circulating throughout Thailand.