title: Adenovirus respiratory infection: significant increase in diagnosis using PCR comparing with antigen detection and culture methods.
abstract: Adenovirus (AdV) respiratory infections are usually described as being associated with high mortality rates. Laboratory diagnosis is essential for the establishment of the appropriate therapy, and for guiding the implementation of preventive measures in order to prevent the spread of the infection. Aiming to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the laboratorial diagnosis methods available, we compared antigen detection by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IF), and a specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), to detect AdV in respiratory samples collected from patients admitted to hospital with acute respiratory disease. Positive samples were inoculated into a cell culture to confirm the results. We analyzed 381 samples from the nasopharyngeal aspirates collected during the year 2008; of these, 2.6% tested were positive for adenovirus through IF and 10% through PCR; positive isolation was obtained in 40% and 26% of these cases, respectively. Most infected patients were children under six months of age, and despite of the fact that a significant number of patients required intensive care, the mortality rate was low (5%). In conclusion, molecular methods were found to be useful for rapid diagnosis of adenovirus infections with higher sensitivity than antigen detection; their introduction permitted a significant increase in diagnoses of adenovirus infections.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil.
authors.forename: Elenice
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stroparo
authors.forename: Cristina R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Maria do Carmo
authors.initials: Mdo C
authors.lastname: Debur
authors.forename: Luine R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: Meri B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Nogueira
authors.forename: Sergio M de
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Luciane A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Indianara
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rotta
authors.forename: Sonia Mara
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Raboni
mesh_terms: D000258:Adenovirus Infections, Human / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000260:Adenoviruses, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity