MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ADENOVIRUS ACUTE LOWER RESPIRATORY-INFECTIONS OF CHILDREN IN THE SOUTH CONE OF SOUTH-AMERICA (1991-1944)

A collection of 165 adenovirus strains isolated from nasopharyngeal as pirates of children hospitalized for acute lower respiratory infection in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay between 1998 and 1994 was studied by restriction enzyme analysis (work performed in the Department of Viro logy, University of Umea). Of the isolates, 71% (n = 117) were identif ied as members of subgenus B. Of these, 101 (61.2%) corresponded to ge nome type 7h, four (2.4%) to genome type 3p2, four (2.4%) to genome ty pe 11a, one (0.6%) to genome type 7b, and one (0.6%) to genome type 7c . Two isolates that were neutralized as serotype 3 and four isolates t hat were neutralized as serotype 7 exhibited novel BamHI cleavage prof iles corresponding to three new genome types denominated 3x, 7i, and 7 j. Subgenus C members represented 28.5% of all typed isolates. Five di fferent genome types of Ad1, seven genome types of Ad2, and three geno me types of Ad5 were identified of, which two, two, and one, respectiv ely, were found to correspond to new DNA variants. Only one isolate (0 .6%) corresponded to Ad4 of subgenus E. Ad7h was isolated from 17 of t he 18 fatal cases recorded among the patients included in the study. ( C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.