Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Sep;46(1):80-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2009.06.008. Epub 2009 Jul 4.

Molecular typing of clinical adenovirus specimens by an algorithm which permits detection of adenovirus coinfections and intermediate adenovirus strains

Troy McCarthy  1 , Mark G Lebeck, Ana W Capuano, David P Schnurr, Gregory C Gray
Affiliations

Molecular typing of clinical adenovirus specimens by an algorithm which permits detection of adenovirus coinfections and intermediate adenovirus strains

Troy McCarthy et al. J Clin Virol. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological data suggest that clinical outcomes of human adenovirus (HAdV) infection may be influenced by virus serotype, coinfection with multiple strains, or infection with novel intermediate strains. In this report, we propose a clinical algorithm for detecting HAdV coinfection and intermediate strains.

Study design: We PCR amplified and sequenced subregions of the hexon and fiber genes of 342 HAdV-positive clinical specimens obtained from 14 surveillance laboratories. Sequences were then compared with those from 52 HAdV prototypic strains. HAdV-positive specimens that showed nucleotide sequence identity with a corresponding prototype strain were designated as being of that strain. When hexon and fiber gene sequences disagreed, or sequence identity was low, the specimens were further characterized by viral culture, plaque purification, repeat PCR with sequencing, and genome restriction enzyme digest analysis.

Results: Of the 342 HAdV-positive clinical specimens, 328 (95.9%) were single HAdV strain infections, 12 (3.5%) were coinfections, and 2 (0.6%) had intermediate strains. Coinfected specimens and intermediate HAdV strains considered together were more likely to be associated with severe illness compared to other HAdV-positive specimens (OR=3.8; 95% CI=1.2-11.9).

Conclusions: The majority of severe cases of HAdV illness cases occurred among immunocompromised patients. The analytic algorithm we describe here can be used to screen clinical specimens for evidence of HAdV coinfection and novel intermediate HAdV strains. This algorithm may be especially useful in investigating HAdV outbreaks and clusters of unusually severe HAdV disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest: None

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
An algorithm for detecting the presence of multiple HAdV types or novel intermediate HAdV strains in clinical samples. 1st time here? = the first time the unknown virus has been at this point in the logic flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jones MS, 2nd, Harrach B, Ganac RD, Gozum MM, Dela Cruz WP, Riedel B, et al. New adenovirus species found in a patient presenting with gastroenteritis. Journal of virology. 2007 Jun;81(11):5978–84. - PMC - PubMed
    1. ICTVdB. Columbia University; New York, USA: 2006. The Universal Virus Database, version 4. [database on the Internet] [cited 08/20/2007]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/Ictv/fs_index.htm.
    1. Erdman DD, Xu W, Gerber SI, Gray GC, Schnurr D, Kajon AE, et al. Molecular epidemiology of adenovirus type 7 in the United States, 1966–2000. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002 Mar;8(3):269–77. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gray GC, Setterquist SF, Jirsa SJ, DesJardin LE, Erdman DD. Emergent strain of human adenovirus endemic in Iowa. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 Jan;11(1):127–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kajon AE, Murtagh P, Garcia Franco S, Freire MC, Weissenbacher MC, Zorzopulos J. A new genome type of adenovirus 3 associated with severe lower acute respiratory infection in children. Journal of medical virology. 1990 Jan;30(1):73–6. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms