Effects of public health interventions in reducing transmission of hand, foot, and mouth disease.

We evaluated the effect of public health interventions including territory-wide school closure and hygiene campaigns during 2003 and 2009 in reducing hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). We compared the observed and projected HFMD consultation rates among sentinel general practitioners using a decomposition regression model. Public health measures were effective in reducing HFMD by 57.2% (95% CI: 53.0%-60.7%) and 26.7% (95% CI: 19.5%-32.7%) in 2003 and 2009, respectively.