Molecular typing of adenoviruses in pediatric respiratory infections in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999–2010)
Section snippets
Background
Human adenoviruses (HAdV) belong to the Mastadenovirus genus and are classified into six different species (A–F), with marked differences in tissue tropism and clinical manifestations.1 The types most commonly found in respiratory samples belong to HAdV species C (HAdV-C1, -C2, -C5, and -C6) and to HAdV species B, subspecies B1 (HAdV-B3 and -B7) and B2 (HAdV-B14), which are endemic and epidemic respectively in pediatric populations.2, 3, 4
Rare cases of severe infection, outbreaks in closed
Objectives
The aim of this study was to identify the adenovirus types associated with ALRI in children, found as single or coinfections, by evaluating a set of four viral genes throughout a 12-year period.
Samples
Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) from children hospitalized with clinical diagnosis of ALRI were received at the Virology Laboratory of “Dr. R. Gutiérrez” Children's Hospital (Buenos Aires, Argentina) from January 1999 to December 2010.
Viral studies
Rapid detection of adenovirus was performed by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with monoclonal antibodies (Light Diagnostics, Chemicon Int., Temecula, CA, USA).19 This research included all samples that tested positive for adenovirus by IFA.
PCR typing
Molecular typing
Viral detection
A total of 48,544 NPA were received at the Virology Laboratory of “Dr. R. Gutiérrez” Children's Hospital and tested for HAdV by IFA from January 1999 to December 2010. Overall, HAdVs were found in 4.7% of the samples, but in 1999, 2002 and 2003, these viruses were significantly more prevalent than in other years (p < 0.000001) (Table 1). Adenovirus circulation showed both an epidemic and an endemic pattern (Supplemmentary Fig. 1).
Molecular typing
PCR sensitivity and specificity were evaluated for each protocol by
Discussion
In this study, 748 samples were analyzed and ten types (HAdV-C1, -C2, -B3, -E4, -C5, -C6, -B7, -D8, -B11 and -B21) of four species (HAdV-B, C, D, E) were found in single infections, whereas only members of species B and C were found in coinfections, including the first HAdV-B14 description in Argentina. This study provides a thorough description of adenovirus circulation and diversity in Buenos Aires in a 12-year period. Although prevalences presented in this work may represent only the cases
Funding
This work was partially supported by ANPCYT, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva de la Nación, Argentina (grant PICT 22147/04 and 1624/07); and by CONICET (grant PIP112-200801-00294).
Competing interests
None declared.
Ethical approval
Not required.
Acknowledgements
We thank P.M. Riveiro, V. Burna, M. Campal, A.M. Caratozzolo, R. Murgo, and M.I. Natale for their excellent technical support.
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