ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Adenoviruses (Ads) are a worldwide cause of endemic and epidemic respiratory infections, particularly in children, young adults and immunocompromised patients. They are responsible for 5% of the acute respiratory infections in children under the age of 4 years and account for about 10% of all cases of childhood requiring hospitalization in this age group. In this study, we report the characteristics of adenoviruses isolated from children with respiratory illness in Busan, 1999~2000. METHODS: A total of 765 children with acute respiratory illness from ten local clinics were studied. Isolation of Ads was performed by inoculating throat swab from patients into Hep-2 cells. The virus propagation was confirmed by the presence of cytopathic effect and adenoviruis specific PCR. Typing of isolated viruses was determined by sequencing analysis of hexon gene. RESULTS: Ads were isolated from throat swab of 17 (2.2%) out of 765 children. The epidemic of Ads infection was concentrated on winter months (December, January, and February). Seventeen Ad isolates showed four serotypes, with Ad3 being the most frequent strain. The distribution of Ads serotypes were eleven (64.7%) Ad3 strains, three (17.6%) Ad5 strains, two (11.8%) Ad2 srtains, and one (5.9%) Ad1 strain. CONCLUSION: Acute respiratory infections by adenoviruses in children were occurred particularly in winter season in Busan. More extended and systematic surveillance of adenovirus infection among populations is required to elucidate the extent of epidemic and disease burden of adenovirus infection.