Clinical features of adenovirus enteritis: a review of 127 cases.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical features of 127 hospitalized pediatric patients whose fecal samples were positive for adenovirus (Ad) by electron microscopy during an 18-month period. Serotyping results obtained by microneutralization tests and restriction endonuclease analysis were available for 105 of 127 cases. There were 69 males and 58 females and 94% of patients were less than 4 years of age. The average body temperature was 38 degrees C rectal (range, 36.2-40.8 degrees C) with an average duration of fever of 1.6 days. The average duration of clinical illness was 8.8 days (range, 1 to 32 days). Although Ad 40 and Ad 41 were isolated in the majority of cases (59 of 105 (56%], Ad 31 was associated with 18 of 105 cases (17%). Of the 18 cases associated with Ad 31, 14 were nosocomial and associated with diarrhea. Our survey confirms the importance of fastidious enteric Ad in infantile diarrhea (Ad 40, Ad 41) and suggests that Ad 31 produces a clinical syndrome indistinguishable from that caused by Ad 40 and Ad 41. The occurrence of Ad enteritis in patients admitted for unrelated illnesses well after initial hospitalization suggests that Ad is also an important cause of nosocomial enteritis in our hospital.