Analysis of two outbreaks of respiratory infection caused by adenovirus

Abstract

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and the causes of two outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infection in our city. Methods The epidemiological investigation was carried out on the outbreaks and the pharyngeal swabs were collected to do the pathophysiologic examination by using real-time PCR. Hexon gene of adenovirus was amplified by PCR. Then the positive products were sequenced and BLAST searching was done in GenBank. Results The clinical symptoms of the two cases were high fever, sore throat and cough, etc, while the main signs were pharyngeal congestion and tonsil swelling; 32 students of a class in Yunxing primary school had respiratory infection related symptoms, of which the incidence rate was 55%; while 12 of 38 students in a class of Fangcun primary school were infected. All these students were on school in the same class, and the incidence was aggregate without proliferation. The duration of the disease was about 5 days and the prognosis was good, no death occurred. The positive result of real-time PCR showed adenovirus. BLAST search analysis on hexon gene showed AdV14. Conclusions According to epidemiological investigation and laboratory test results, the cause of these two outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infection was adenovirus type 14. Key words: Respiratory infection; Outbreak; Adenovirus