Rapid diagnosis of respiratory adenovirus infections in young adult men

Rapid viral diagnosis was attempted in 106 military conscripts with pneumonia and in 101 military conscripts with other types of respiratory infections. Nasopharyngeal suction specimens (NPS) were assayed for viral antigens by immunofluorescence and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Sputum specimens from 97 pneumonia patients were assayed for viral antigens by EIA. Also, 71 NPS and 13 sputum specimens were examined for the presence of adenovirus DNA by a sandwich hybridization (HYB) method. The reference test was adenovirus isolation in cell culture from the NPS. Adenoviruses were isolated from 6 pneumonia patients and from 20 patients with other respiratory infections. Of these 26 NPS, rapid diagnosis was successful in 13, 16, and 14 cases by EIA, immunofluorescence, and HYB, respectively. Four antigen-positive specimens were found among the 181 specimens which were negative by virus isolation. Sputum was found to contain adenovirus antigen by EIA in 5 of 97 tested specimens. Of these 97 specimens, 13 were selectively tested in HYB, and a positive signal was observed in 4 cases. Serological testing of paired sera revealed 23 adenovirus infections in the pneumonia group and 42 in the group with other respiratory infections. Other viral infections were found only sporadically. All rapid virus detection methods showed excellent specificity but had a lower sensitivity (60%) than virus isolation. Our results show that rapid methods for diagnosing respiratory adenovirus infections can be successfully used in selected groups of adults.