ADENOVIRUS GENOME TYPES ISOLATED FROM STOOLS OF CHILDREN WITH GASTROENTERITIS IN SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL

In a prospective one-year study of acute gastroenteritis in hospitaliz ed children less than 2 years of age, in Sao Paulo (Brazil), adenoviru ses were detected by specific enzyme immunoassay (EIARA) in 7 of 67 (1 0%) ill children and in 9 of 79 (11.4%) controls. They were the sole r ecognizable agent of diarrhea in 6 ill children. In another child thes e viruses were detected in a dual infection with astrovirus. Enteric a denoviruses (Ad40/41) were the most common serotypes detected in child ren with diarrhea (3/7) and Ad7 the serotype most detected in the cont rols (5/9), associated with lower respiratory tract infection. Thirtee n adenovirus strains, isolated in HEp2 or HEK-293 cells, were characte rized by seroneutralization and restriction enzyme analysis. The estab lished adenoviruses were typed as AV-7-D5 (five associated to lower re spiratory tract infection and one to diarrhea), AV-1-D10 (one diarrhea case), AV-31-D2 (two controls with respiratory infection), and two is olates as AV-12-D7, a new genome type. One subgenus D isolate, serotyp e 28, with restriction patterns different from those of the prototype, remained untyped. Only one enteric adenovirus could be typed. The res triction patterns of this isolated were similar to those of the protot ype AV-41-D1. The genome type of the other three enteric adenoviruses could not be determined. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.