Five-year study reveals molecular features of adenovirus in hospitalized

A five-year study from northern China mapped human adenovirus in hospitalized children with unprecedented clinical detail. Researchers at Hebei Children’s Hospital and Hebei Medical University analyzed 42,044 children admitted between 2016 and 2020 with respiratory tract infections, using sputum samples tested for viral nucleic acids and genotyping to identify circulating adenovirus types. Published in Virology Journal, the findings indicate two genotypes dominate severe pediatric disease in the region and that viral co-infections are common: 62.6% of adenovirus-positive cases involved at least one additional respiratory pathogen. Adenovirus positivity reached 7.43%. Severe infection rates peaked in children aged 1–3 (chi-squared 418.44, P < 0.001), and the HAdV-7 genotype produced a distinctive immunological fingerprint linked to more dangerous outcomes.