Human adenovirus pulmonary infection in 84 children and DNA genotypes

OBJECTIVE To explore the pathogens and DNA genotypes of human adenovirus（HAdV） in children with pulmonary infection. METHODS Total of 84 children with pulmonary infection in the First People′s Hospital of Zunyi between Jan 2016 and Dec 2018 were recruited. The clinical data of patients were collected, and DNA genotypes of strains were analyzed by PCR amplification. RESULTS Among 84 children with HAdV pulmonary infection, 51 were males（60.71%） and 33 were females（39.29%）, with the average age of（2.01±1.78） years old. In each age group, the majority was mainly ＜ 1 year old, accounting for 34.52%, followed by the age between 1-2 years old, accounting for 20.24%. The infection mainly occurred in summer and winter. There were 32 cases（38.10%） of single HAdV infection and 52 cases（61.90%） of HAdV infection combined with other viruses. Respiratory syncytial virus and human rhinovirus were the most common co-infected viruses. The main symptom in 84 children were fever, cough and expectoration, and there were no significant differences in clinical symptoms between children with single HAdV infection and with co-infection, but a small number of children appeared diarrhea and dyspnea. Three genotypes were detected among 84 HAdV strains, including HAdV-B（52 strains, 61.90%）, HAdV-C（23 strains, 27.38%） and HAdV-E（9 strains, 10.71%）, and HAdV-B3 had the highest detection rate（36 strains, 42.86%）. CONCLUSION The incidence rate of HAdV pulmonary infection occurred highly in children between 0 to 1 year old in Zunyi area. The disease occurrs mainly in summer and winter, and most of children are complicated with other viral infections, with the common symptoms such as fever, cough and expectoration. Hadv-B is the main genotype of HAdV infection, followed by HADV-C and HADV-E, and HADV-B3 is the most common genotype, followed by HADV-B7 and HADV-C1. It is suggested that clinical prevention and control should be targeted.