Infección respiratoria aguda por adenovirus en ni？os hospitalizados de Santa Fe

introduction. adenovirus are (ads) an important etiologic agent of acute respiratory infections (ari). ad7 has been associated with clinical manifestations of most considerable severity. objective. the aim of this study was to describe the clinical and epidemiologic aspects of the ari by ads in hospitalized patients in santa fe, argentina during 1998-2001. population, material and methods. we conducted a retrospective study. medical charts of 31 patients with ari admitted in hospitals in santa fe were examined. demographic information, as well as the radiographic and clinical outcome, were captured on special forms. infections by ads were documented by indirect immunonofluorescence. ads were isolated in hep2-cell cultures from nasopharyngeal aspirates. the molecular characterization was performed by pcr. results. during the study period there was a predominance of subspecies b:1 (25/29), 24 was ad7. the ad7 was associated with pneumonia whereas the adenovirus species c(3/29) y d (1/29) were associated with mild bronchitis and upper respiratory tract catarrh. children less than one year of age were the most common age-group affected. the duration of oxygen treatment and hospital stay was 8 days in the 14/22 y 17/31 of the children studied, respectively. eleven of thirty-one children developed a severe pneumonia, requiring intensive care and mechanical respiratory assistance (4/11). two cases developed miocarditis and hepatitis. among all cases included the mortality was 9.7% (3/31) associated with ad7. conclusions. this study contributes to have better information on the clinical picture, and about the most common serotypes of adenovirus causing ari in children in a province from argentine. the early age of the infection onset, extended hospital stay and the severity of the infection, emphasize the need for implementation of both strategies of control and prevention.