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
. 2023 Aug 17;11(4):e0015923.
doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00159-23. Epub 2023 Jul 24.

Etiological Study of Acute Conjunctivitis Caused by Human Adenovirus in Shanxi Province, China, between 2016 and 2019

Jitao Wang #  1 , Xiaoling Ning #  2 , Yang Xu  1 , Rui Wang  1 , Xiaofang Guo  1 , Jihong Xu  1 , Jiane Guo  1 , Qin Ma  2 , Hong Li  3 , Dandan Niu  4 , Ying Liu  4 , Naiying Mao  4 , Zhen Zhu  4
Affiliations

Etiological Study of Acute Conjunctivitis Caused by Human Adenovirus in Shanxi Province, China, between 2016 and 2019

Jitao Wang et al. Microbiol Spectr. .

Abstract

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is the primary cause of acute conjunctivitis. To improve our understanding of the etiology of adenoviral conjunctivitis, ocular samples were collected from 160 conjunctivitis cases in the Shanxi province of northern China between 2016 and 2019. Through preliminary identification, virus isolation, and type identification, a total of 63 HAdV isolates were obtained from the samples. Three species and seven types (HAdV-3, HAdV-4, HAdV-8, HAdV-37, HAdV-53, HAdV-64, and HAdV-85) were detected, with HAdV-64, HAdV-3, and HAdV-8 being the predominant types in 2016, 2018, and 2019, respectively. Further phylogenetic analysis indicated the relative genomic stability of seven HAdV-type strains, except for 4 HAdV-3 strains in 2018 with a novel amino acid insertion site (Pro) between P19 and S20 in the penton base gene. It is worth noting that the genomes of two Shanxi HAdV-85 strains from 2016 were almost identical to those of previously reported HAdV-85 strains that circulated in Japan in 2014 to 2018. China was the second country to sample and isolate HAdV-85, suggesting that HAdV-85 might be underreported as an ocular pathogen. Data obtained in this study provide valuable information on the prevalence of acute conjunctivitis caused by HAdV. IMPORTANCE HAdV types in cases of conjunctivitis in Shanxi province, China, in 2016 to 2019 showed evident diversity, with seven types (HAdV-3, HAdV-4, HAdV-8, HAdV-37, HAdV-53, HAdV-64, and HAdV-85) being identified, and relative genome stability of these viruses was observed. In addition, China was the second country to sample and isolate HAdV-85, which suggests that HAdV-85 might be underreported as an important pathogen associated with ocular infections. These results enhance the understanding of the etiology of adenoviral conjunctivitis and may aid in the development of prevention and control strategies for HAdV-related ocular infections in China.

Keywords: acute conjunctivitis; etiological study; human adenovirus; human adenovirus type 85.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Type identification of Shanxi HAdV isolates based on penton base (a), hexon (b), and fiber (c) genes. To simplify the phylogenetic tree, virus strains in this study that were consistent across all three genes were removed, which resulted in the selection of 43 representative strains from 63 strains (HAdV-3, 8 strains; HAdV-8, 14 strains; HAdV-37, 7 strains; HAdV-53, 4 strains; HAdV-64, 6 strains; HAdV-85, 2 strains; HAdV-4, 2 strains) for construction of the phylogenetic tree. The representative strains of HAdV types in the trees were defined with HAdV type and GenBank accession number.
FIG 2
FIG 2
Phylogenetic analysis of species B strains (HAdV-3) based on penton base (A), hexon (B), and fiber (C) genes. Red circles represent the strains in this study, blue triangles represent strains circulating in other provinces of China, green diamonds represent the HAdV-3 prototype strain, and black bold type indicates HAdV-3 strains with an insertion site (Pro) between P19 and S20 in the penton base gene. HAdV-3 strains in this study that were consistent across all three genes were excluded; therefore, 8 representative strains were selected from 10 strains for construction of the phylogenetic tree. The representative strains from the GenBank database in the trees were defined with country of origin, strain name and GenBank accession number.
FIG 3
FIG 3
Phylogenetic analysis of species E strains (HAdV-4) based on penton base (a), hexon (b), and fiber (c) genes. Red circles represent the strains in this study, green diamonds represent the prototype stain of HAdV-4, and blue triangles represent strains circulating in other provinces of China. The representative strains from the GenBank database in the trees were defined with country of origin, strain name and GenBank accession number.
FIG 4
FIG 4
Phylogenetic analysis of species D strains (HAdV-8, HAdV-37, HAdV-53, HAdV-64, and HAdV-85) based on penton base (a), hexon (b), and fiber (c) genes. To simplify the phylogenetic tree, virus strains in this study that were consistent across all three genes were removed, which resulted in the selection of 33 representative strains from 51 strains (HAdV-8, 14 strains; HAdV-37, 7 strains; HAdV-53, 4 strains; HAdV-64, 6 strains; HAdV-85, 2 strains) for construction of the phylogenetic tree. Blue triangles represent strains circulating in other provinces of China. The representative strains from the GenBank database in the trees were defined with country of origin, strain name and GenBank accession number.
FIG 5
FIG 5
Comparative whole-genome-sequence-based analysis of two Shanxi HAdV-85 strains and the HAdV-85 prototype strain from Japan (GenBank accession number LC314153). CDS, coding sequence; ORF, open reading frame; DBP, DNA-binding protein; RID, receptor internalization and degradation protein.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Davison AJ, Benkő M, Harrach B. 2003. Genetic content and evolution of adenoviruses. J Gen Virol 84:2895–2908. doi:10.1099/vir.0.19497-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Madisch I, Harste G, Pommer H, Heim A. 2005. Phylogenetic analysis of the main neutralization and hemagglutination determinants of all human adenovirus prototypes as a basis for molecular classification and taxonomy. J Virol 79:15265–15276. doi:10.1128/JVI.79.24.15265-15276.2005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ismail AM, Cui T, Dommaraju K, Singh G, Dehghan S, Seto J, Shrivastava S, Fedorova NB, Gupta N, Stockwell TB, Halpin R, Madupu R, Heim A, Kajon AE, Romanowski EG, Kowalski RP, Malathi J, Therese KL, Madhavan HN, Zhang Q, Ferreyra LJ, Jones MS, Rajaiya J, Dyer DW, Chodosh J, Seto D. 2018. Genomic analysis of a large set of currently-and historically-important human adenovirus pathogens. Emerg Microbes Infect 7:10. doi:10.1038/s41426-017-0004-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li ZJ, Zhang HY, Ren LL, Lu QB, Ren X, Zhang CH, Wang YF, Lin SH, Zhang XA, Li J, Zhao SW, Yi ZG, Chen X, Yang ZS, Meng L, Wang XH, Liu YL, Wang X, Cui AL, Lai SJ, Jiang T, Yuan Y, Shi LS, Liu MY, Zhu YL, Zhang AR, Zhang ZJ, Yang Y, Ward MP, Feng LZ, Jing HQ, Huang LY, Xu WB, Chen Y, Wu JG, Yuan ZH, Li MF, Wang Y, Wang LP, Fang LQ, Liu W, Hay SI, Gao GF, Yang WZ, Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Etiology of Respiratory Infection Surveillance Study Team . 2021. Etiological and epidemiological features of acute respiratory infections in China. Nat Commun 12:5026. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25120-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Binder AM, Biggs HM, Haynes AK, Chommanard C, Lu X, Erdman DD, Watson JT, Gerber SI. 2017. Human adenovirus surveillance: United States, 2003–2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 66:1039–1042. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6639a2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types