Useful For

As an aid in diagnosing respiratory adenovirus infections and systemic adenovirus reactivation in immunocompromised, particularly bone marrow transplant, recipients.

Clinical Information

Human adenovirus, of the Adenoviridae family, is a nonenveloped icosahedral particle containing a single linear dsDNA genome. Human adenovirus comprises 6 species (A through F) consisting of serotypes 1 – 51, and associated with a variety of clinical illnesses. Serotypes 1-39, 42-51 are associated with a variety of respiratory disease, generally in children and immunocompromised persons; whereas serotypes 40 and 41 is associated with enteric disease (enteric adenovirus) particularly in children – these enteric adenoviruses will not be detected with the assay described here. Serotypes 12, 18, 31 have a high oncogenic potential and serotypes 4 and 7 are associated with acute respiratory disease (ARD) frequently in military recruits and typically occur in the winter and spring. Smaller outbreaks of serotypes 3, 4, and 7 occur in the summertime and are associated with contaminated swimming pool water.

Adenovirus infections of the eye may lead to pharyngo-conjunctival fever, follicular conjunctivitis or epidemic keratoconjunctivitis.

As an important opportunistic infection, adenoviruses are of particular concern to individuals with compromised immune systems. The majority of incidence of adenoviruses occurs in individuals who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplant and solid organ transplant recipients.

Approximately 5% of acute respiratory disease in children and 10% of febrile illnesses and childhood pneumonias have been associated with adenovirus infection.

Interpretation

A positive result indicates that virus was present in the specimen submitted. Clinical correlation is necessary to determine the significance of this finding as asymptomatic, persistent, or recurrent adenovirus infections can occur.

Negative results may be seen in a number of situations including absence of viral disease, nonviable organisms submitted or suboptimal specimen collection/transport.

Reference

Rhee, E. G., and Barouch, D. H. 2010. Adenoviruses, p. 2027-2033. In Mandell, D., Bennett, J. E., and Dolin, R. 2010. Principles and practice of infectious diseases, 7^th ed., vol. 2. Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier, Philadelphia, PA.

Robinson, C., and Echavarria, M. 2007. Adenoviruses, p. 1589-1600. In Murray, P. R., Baron, E. J., Jorgensen, J. H., Landry, M. L., and Pfaller, M. A. Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 9^th ed., vol. 2. ASM Press, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.