All about Adenovirus

Adenovirus is a virus behind your feverish feelings in winter. The virus causes similar symptoms like flu. But, the doctors do not test it in routine.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security explains that adenovirus, basically is a prolific virus that can be the reason behind a diversity of health issues including upper respiratory contamination like colds and pneumonia, conjunctivitis, gastrointestinal illness and urinary tract infections. There are about fifty two strains of adenovirus. The different strains of the virus strains cause different issues.

According to Dr. Adalja, a person with respiratory infection due to adenovirus would have all the common symptoms of flu. It becomes difficult to tell apart from influenza. The symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, et al.

When someone has a respiratory infectivity caused by an adenovirus, "it would be really difficult to say it apart from influenza" just by seeing at the patient, Adalja said. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells that the signs can include sore throat, fever, cough and runny nose,

There are cases where adenovirus can lead to very severe respiratory symptoms like pneumonia. This happens especially in the patients who have a compromised immune system. In the year 2007, adenovirus outbreak happened. It spread in four states and caused illness in about 140 patients. The outbreak claimed the life of 10 patients, quoted CDC. Although, the fatality rate does not compare to the fatality rate of flu, which claims between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths every year, says CDC.

U.S. Department of Defense started vaccinating the military recruits against 2 strains of virus due to the fear of adenovirus outbreak in the year 1971, as reported by Medscape. After the stoppage of vaccine production in the year 1996, the incidence of adenovirus went on rise in the military because the disease spreads easily. Due to this, the vaccines were again introduced and the recruiters were given the vaccines from 2011, says Medscape. According to the U.S. Army Medical Material Development Activity, the vaccine helps in preventing about fifteen thousand cases of infections caused by adenovirus.

According to a latest study that was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal, the vaccine should also be given to the groups that do not belong to military, like people who live in college dorms or in long-term-care facilities. The study examined the respiratory infections caused by adenovirus in non-military members.

Dr. Adalja also says that as adenovirus does not lead to devastating illness, it is necessary to study the uses of vaccine in non-military context.

For instance, this vaccine might cause a range of benefits to the people who are at a high susceptibility of contracting the virus, like the patients who have lung disease and patients with compromised immunity. The vaccine can also benefit general people.

We also need further studies to find out which segment of people could get the most amount of benefit.