Abstract
OBJECTIVES:Viral conjunctivitis is a common, highly contagious disease that is often caused by an adenovirus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of adenoviral conjunctivitis by analyzing data from a prospective clinical study of 122 consecutively enrolled patients who were treated at the Clinical Hospital of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) after a clinical diagnosis of infectious conjunctivitis between November 2011 and June 2012.METHODS:Polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate all cases of clinically diagnosed infectious conjunctivitis and based on the laboratory findings, the prevalence of adenoviral infections was determined. The incidence of subepithelial corneal infiltrates was also investigated.RESULTS:Of the 122 patients with acute infectious conjunctivitis included, 72 had positive polymerase chain reaction results for adenoviruses and 17 patients developed subepithelial corneal infiltrates (13.93%).CONCLUSIONS:The polymerase chain reaction revealed that the prevalence of adenoviral conjunctivitis was 59% in all patients who presented with a clinical diagnosis of infectious conjunctivitis from November 2011 to June 2012. The prevalence of adenoviral conjunctivitis in the study population was similar to its prevalence in other regions of the world.
Highlights
Adenoviruses (AdV) are a major cause of viral conjunctivitis
Several viruses are associated with conjunctivitis, including members of the Enterovirus genus, enterovirus 70 (EV70) and a variant of Coxsackievirus A24
Results from studies conducted in Japan showed that adenoviruses were involved in 90% of all viral cases of conjunctivitis in that country [16], whereas worldwide, adenoviruses have been found to be involved in 15% to 70% of all cases of infectious conjunctivitis [17,18,19,20]
Summary
Adenoviruses (AdV) are a major cause of viral conjunctivitis. They are responsible for 15% to 70% of all cases of conjunctivitis worldwide. These viruses belong to the Mastadenovirus genus of the Adenoviridae family, which is divided into six species (A - F) and 51 serotypes [1,2]. One-third of human adenovirus serotypes are associated with common forms of adenoviral-related eye infections [3]. The serotypes AdV8, 19 and 37 are often associated with epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), other serotypes, such as AdV2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 21, 22, 29 and 34, have been associated with this illness [4,5].
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