 Hand foot and mouth disease HFMD is a common infectious disease caused by a number of different viruses - a small proportion of children infected with a particular type of enterovirus EV71 develop neurological and systemic complications that may prove fatal. Very large epidemics of EV71 related HFMD have occurred across Asia in recent years; in 2011, in excess of 100,000 Vietnamese children were diagnosed with HFMD and 164 died. 