Adenovirus Infection

adenovirus infection, any of a group of illnesses caused by infection with an adenovirus. There are numerous different adenoviruses—including nearly 90 types of human adenoviruses, with new types emerging continually—though not all of them cause illness in humans. Illnesses that arise from adenovirus infection include respiratory disease, conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctivitis (infection of the conjunctiva and cornea of the eye), gastroenteritis, and cystitis (inflammation of the bladder). In the upper respiratory tract there is frequent involvement of the regional lymph nodes, bearing considerable resemblance to the common cold. Lower respiratory infection occasionally results in pneumonia.

Adenoviruses are often found in latent infections in clinically healthy persons. A vaccine against adenovirus serotypes 4 and 7 was developed in the 1970s for the purpose of immunizing U.S. military trainees, who were at high risk of infection with these serotypes, which give rise to respiratory disease. Production of the vaccine ceased in 1995; it was reintroduced in 2011 for use in military personnel age 17 to 50.