Abstract
The incidence and type distribution of human adenovirus (HAdV) infections among children with pharyngoconjunctival fever (PCF) in Osaka, Japan between 2019 and 2023 were analyzed to assess the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The number of reported PCF cases in Osaka decreased from 2020 to 2022, followed by an unprecedented increase in 2023. HAdV-C strains, including types C1, C2, and C5, were detected in throughout the study period. Conversely, HAdV-B3 was not detected for 2 years and 9 months from March 2020 to December 2022, but the number of detections increased from July 2023. Overall, HAdV-B3 was the most frequently detected type (27 of 52 strains), and genetic analysis of its hexon hypervariable regions showed that, except for one strain, the HAdV-B3 strains identified after 2022 had different amino acid substitutions to those identified in 2019 and 2020. These results suggest that the PCF epidemic in 2023 was predominantly caused by variant strains of HAdV-B3, and that children were susceptible owing to a lack of exposure to HAdV-B3 between 2020 and 2022. Ongoing surveillance is needed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the prevalence of HAdV infection.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
