Molecular Characterization of Human Adenoviruses in Children

Abstract Introduction: Viral gastroenteritis is an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality, in developing countries. Human adenovirus (HAdV) poses a major risk in children, elderly people and immunocompromised persons, causes acute diarrhea at irregular intervals as well as in outbreaks. Aim: The study was aimed to investigate the molecular characterization and associated clinical features of HAdV infection in North Indian children affected with acute gastroenteritis (AGI) infection. Materials and Methods: HAdV has been identified by PCR, targeting partial hexon gene from fecal specimen of 250 AGI affected children. Results: A total 14 (5.6%) HAdV positives were confirmed by PCR, among them 8 males (3.2%) and 6 (2.4%) were females. Maximum positivity was 57.14% in the age group of 0-5 years AGI affected children. HAdV-B was the most prevalent followed by C, D, F and A in North Indian children, out of them serotype B3 (28.57%) was prevalent, followed by C2, C5 and F41 (14.29% each); A12, B34, D63 and D28 (7.14% each). Conclusion: This study contributes to a better understanding about HAdV that might involve in AGI illnesses in young children, prognosis helps in planning and prevention from HAdV infection. HAdV-B3 was the most common adenovirus serotypes circulating in the North India. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on genetic molecular characterization of HAdV strains from North Indian AGI children