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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2000, p. 2982-2984, Vol. 38, No. 8
Department of Virus Diseases, Division of
Communicable Diseases and Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research, Washington, D.C.,1 and Henry
M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,
Rockville,2 and U.S. Army Center for
Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground,
Aberdeen,3 Maryland
Received 14 January 2000/Returned for modification 25 February
2000/Accepted 5 June 2000
Since 1954, adenoviruses (AdV) have been recognized as an important
cause of acute respiratory disease (ARD) among U.S. military recruits.
Until recently, routine oral vaccination for AdV serotypes 4 and 7 eliminated epidemic AdV-associated ARD in this population. Now that the
manufacturer has ceased production, vaccination has ended and AdV
epidemics have reappeared. As part of a prospective epidemiological
study during the high-risk ARD season, serial samples were obtained
from ventilation system filters and tested for AdV by culture and PCR.
An outbreak occurred during this surveillance. Of 59 air filters, 26 (44%) were AdV positive only by PCR. Sequence analysis confirmed the
presence of AdV serotype 4, the implicated outbreak serotype. The
number of AdV-related hospitalizations was directly correlated with the
proportion of filters containing AdV; correlation coefficients were
0.86 (Pearson) and 0.90 (Spearman's rho). This is the first report
describing a PCR method to detect airborne AdV during an ARD outbreak.
It suggests that this technique can detect and quantify AdV-associated
ARD exposure and may enable further definition of environmental effects
on AdV-associated ARD spread.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Detection of Adenoviruses (AdV) in Culture-Negative
Environmental Samples by PCR during an AdV-Associated Respiratory
Disease Outbreak
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Virus Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Forney Dr.,
Bldg. 503, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Phone: (301) 319-9045. Fax: (301) 319-9661. E-mail:
leonard.binn{at}na.amedd.army.mil.
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