Light and electron microscopic study of skin lesions of patients with the hand, foot and mouth disease.

Light and electron microscopic study was carried out on skin lesions of patients with the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFM.D) with special respect to virls localization in the affected skin. Light microscopic observations revealed a considerable number of eosinophilic inclusions in the nuclei of epidermal cells around the intraepidermal vesicles. Intracytoplasmic inclusions were not clearly observed. Crystalline arrays of virus particles were detected in the cytoplasmic portions of some epidermal cells by electron microscopy. These particles were approximately 20 nm in diameter. The skin lesions of the HFM.D are possibly a manifestation of virus proliferation in the epidermal cells.