ADENOVIRUS SURVEILLANCE, 1982-1993, JAPAN

The Infectious Agents Surveillance Center, the National Institute of H ealth, Japan, received 17,265 reports from 1982 to 1993 on cases from whom adenovirus was isolated or detected; 85% from 57 public health in stitutes and the other 15% from two national hospitals and two commerc ial diagnostic laboratories. The followings were found. Three major di seases caused by adenovirus were upper respiratory tract infection, ga stroenteritis, and conjunctivitis. Patients of upper respiratory tract infection numbered 6,837 (40% of all patients due to adenovirus), the identified serotypes being in order of frequency types 3, 2, 1, and 5 . Those of gastroenteritis numbered 1,636 (9.5%). From 40% of the gast roenteritis patients, adenovirus was detected by electron microscopy o r immunochemical methods without cultivation. From the remaining 60%, virus was isolated in tissue culture; the serotypes of the isolates re sembled those causing upper respiratory tract infection. Patients of c onjunctivitis numbered 3,437 (20%), the frequency being in order of ty pes 3, 4, 8, 37, and 19. Conjunctivitis due to types 3 and 4 prevailed every summer; type 3 was isolated often from children with pharyngo-c onjunctival fever and the other four types were mostly from adults wit h epidemic keratoconjunctivitis. Type 3 had a unique feature not seen in other types: it was most frequently isolated, causing upper respira tory tract infection, gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, and pharyngo-co njunctival fever. Reports on isolation of type 7, which has been repor ted to cause severe pneumonia in many other countries, were as few as 28 (0.2%).