Objective: To explore the characteristics of adenovirus (ADV) infection in children hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in Beijing Children's Hospital.
Methods: One thousand and forty-six children hospitalized with pneumonia or bronchitis in Beijing Children's Hospital from October 2004 to December 2005, were enrolled in our study. Serum samples were collected from each patient and detected for ADV-IgM by indirect ELISA, excluding those serum samples which were positive for any of the antibodies as CMV, EBV, HSV, Enterovirus.
Results: Eighty-seven (11.8%, 87/738) were positive for ADV-IgM in 738 cases which were negative on other pathogen. The percentage of LRTI with ADV infection was 8.3% (87/1046) during the period. Thirty-two cases were younger than 1 year of age while 42 cases were between 1-6 and 13 cases were older than 6 years old. The ratio of male to female was 1.4:1. ADV infection occurred throughout the year and relatively frequent in winter and spring.
Conclusion: ADV was one of the most important viral pathogens on lower respiratory tract infections in children under 5 year olds. Children aged from 6 months to 3-years were susceptible to ADV infection.