Adenoviruses (AdV) are important pathogens primarily associated to respiratory infections of children and military staff even though it is also associated to many clinical manifestations, such as cystitis, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, hepatitis, myocarditis, and encephalitis. The goals of this study were to detect and type acute respiratory disease associated AdV isolates among military trainees in a selected region without an evidence of an outbreak. Throat swab samples were obtained during February 2006-March 2006 period, from 180 military male trainees aged 20-29, who were presented with respiratory tract symptoms and an oral temperature of > or = 38.0 degrees C. All specimens were tested by HEp-2 cell culture and real-time TaqMan PCR with AdV specific primers and probes. Positive cell culture results, presented as AdV-specific cytopathic effects, were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). AdV subgroup differentiation were performed using conventional PCR assays with the primer set specific for subgroup B, C or E. Subgroup specific PCR products were restricted with Mspl enzyme in order to check whether they were specific or not. AdV positivity was detected in 8 (4.4%) samples by cell culture and in 9 (5.0%) by the real-time PCR. All culture positive samples were also positive by real-time PCR. Eight of the nine real-time PCR-positive specimens were found to be in the subgroup E (this group contains only AdV type 4) and the results were confirmed with restriction enzyme analysis. One isolate could not be typed with the available primers. These data indicated that both real-time TaqMan PCR and restriction enzyme analysis provide sensitive and specific tools for AdV detection and subgroup differentiation for throat swab specimens. It can be concluded that since the prevalence of AdV infections was low in the study group, AdV infections were not considered as a vaccine requiring health problem in Turkish armed forces, however, larger scale studies were needed to reach a more precise conclusion.