Adenovirus infection in children hospitalized with pneumonia in Guangzhou, China

Background: HAdV infection can cause a variety of diseases. Although infections with HAdVs often are mild, life-threatening respiratory disease can occur. Pneumonia is one of the more serious types of HAdV-induced respiratory disease in children. In this study, we determined the prevalence and genotype of HAdVs among children hospitalized with pneumonia in Guangzhou, China.

Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs (NPSs) were collected from children hospitalized with pneumonia in Guangzhou, China, from January 2013 to June 2019. HAdVs were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, and hexon, fiber, and penton gene were amplified and used for phylogenetic analysis. Epidemiological data were analyzed using SPSS16.0 software.

Results and conclusions: A total of 1778 children hospitalized with pneumonia were enrolled. The overall HAdV detection rate was 3.26%. And the yearly detection rate varied from around 2.5% in 2013-2017 to around 6% in 2018-2019. Children >5 years had the highest HAdV infection rate. 92.86% of HAdV sequences obtained in this study were belonged to species B, and no recombination was observed. HAdV-B7 and HAdV-B3 were the common types detected in the study period, with the predominant HAdV genotype shifted from HAdV-B3 in 2015-2016 to HAdV-B7 in 2017-2018. The discrepancies in HAdV detection rates in different study period and changes of HAdV predominant types over time highlighted the importance of continued surveillance.