Objective To analyze the infection status and genetic evolution of human adenovirus (HAdV) in children with acute respiratory tract infections in Bengbu, Anhui province, from October 2022 to June 2023, and provide basic data and scientific evidence for the prevention and control of respiratory tract viral diseases.
Methods A total of 589 throat swab were collected from hospitalized children with acute respiratory infection in a grade Ⅲ hospital in Bengbu from October 2022 to June 2023 for the detections of 15 common respiratory viruses by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and Hep-2 cells was used for HAdV isolation in HAdV positive samples. The Loop2 hypervariable region of HAdV Hexon gene was amplified by PCR to identify the type of HAdV isolates. Hexon gene and Fiber gene were amplified to analyze the characteristics of genome evolution of HAdV.
Results A total of 184 virus-positive samples were detected in 589 throat swabs from acute respiratory infection cases, and the detection rate was 31.24%. HAdV nucleic acid was detected in in 80 positive samples (13.58%), including 63 samples which were only positive for HAdV (78.75%), 16 samples which were positive for HAdV and other 1 virus (20.00%) and 1 sample which was positive for HAdV and other 2 viruses (1.25%). There was no significant difference in HAdV positive rate between boys and girls. In the different age groups, the highest detection rate was in age group 6 months - 2 years (21.67%). The main clinical diagnosis was pneumonia (56.25%), and severe pneumonia accounted for 22.50%, followed by upper respiratory tract infection (30.00%). In 30 HAdV isolates, 24 were HAdV-C1, 3 were HAdV-C2, 2 were HAdV-C57 and 1 was HAdV-C5.
Conclusion HAdV is an important pathogen of acute respiratory tract infection in children in Bengbu from October 2022 to June 2023, and the infection cases were mainly infants or young children aged 6 months - 2 years. Pneumonia was mainly diagnosed. The surveillance and prevention of HAdV infection should be strengthened.