Adenovirus infection: symptoms and treatment

Adenovirus infection is accompanied by damage to the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, eyes, organs of the digestive and lymphatic systems. The patient suffers from severe malaise. Viruses are easily transmitted from one person to another, since at room temperature they can exist for 14 days or more.

Approximately 10% of all viral infections are due to adenoviruses. About 1/3 of all patients are children. And more than 50% of them are under five years old. Mass outbreaks of infection are observed in autumn and winter.

Adenovirus infection is a pathological process that occurs when an adenovirus (Adenoviridae) enters the human body. The disease is accompanied by damage to the respiratory system, eyes, gastrointestinal tract and lymphatic system. Infected patients suffer from intoxication, fever, loss of voice, cough, intestinal disorders. The diagnosis is made on the basis of the clinical picture of the disease and the results of laboratory tests. In the course of treatment, adults and children receive antiviral drugs, immunomodulators and drugs that relieve acute symptoms of infection.

General information about pathology

Adenovirus belongs to the group of respiratory viral infections. The course of the disease is complicated by conjunctivitis, nasopharyngitis, lymphadenopathy, dyspeptic syndrome. The proportion of adenovirus infections in the overall structure of SARS reaches 20%.

The risk group includes patients aged six months to three years. Almost all preschool children have been infected with adenovirus at least once. Pathology does not have a pronounced seasonality: the incidence rate remains stable throughout the year. Treatment of the disease is carried out under the supervision of a pediatrician and an otolaryngologist.

Reasons for the development of pathology

Virologists have identified three dozen pathogens belonging to the Adenoviridae family. The causative agents of infection are adapted to long-term survival in adverse conditions, they tolerate negative temperatures and low environmental humidity well. Pathogen DNA is destroyed by ultraviolet radiation and chlorine-based chemicals.

Infected patients spread pathogens by shedding nasopharyngeal mucus. A significant amount of viral agents is found in feces. The main ways of infection of healthy people are airborne and fecal-oral. Swimmers can become infected after contact with water in which the carrier of the pathogen has swum.

A patient who has had an adenovirus infection is immune to a particular type of virus. A child or adult can get sick again when exposed to a carrier of another Adenoviridae serotype. A similar mechanism of transmission of adenovirus from person to person is typical for nosocomial infections.

Mechanism of infection

The first manifestations of adenovirus begin to disturb the patient after pathogens enter the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and intestines or the conjunctiva of the eye. Viruses reproduce in epithelial cells, lymph nodes and lymphoid formations of the intestine. After the end of the incubation period, the affected cells die – the viruses enter the human circulatory system.

In places of primary mucosal damage, edema is formed. A typical localization of the focus of inflammation is the posterior wall of the pharynx. The inflammatory process proceeds against the background of abundant exudate separation. If left untreated, the patient may experience damage to the bronchi, kidneys, liver and spleen.

Adenovirus infection: ways of transmission

Science knows 62 types of adenoviruses, 49 of them have a common antigen. A total of 7 subgroups have been identified: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. However, all of them have a pathological effect on human mucous membranes.

The disease can occur in various forms:

• Viruses from subgroups B and E cause vivid symptoms, the disease manifests acutely.
• Subgroups C and B viruses cause a disease that is latent. A person often develops chronic inflammation of the tonsils, adenoids, etc.
• Subgroup F viruses cause intestinal upset.
• Subgroup B viruses can cause conjunctivitis.
• Subgroup B2 viruses have a pathological effect on the liver and organs of the urinary system.

Adenovirus infection is one of the multiple variants of SARS, so the disease is always accompanied by flu-like symptoms. The infected person’s body temperature rises, the lymph nodes increase in size, there is discomfort in the throat, rhinitis develops, etc. However, there are also distinctive features that are inherent in adenovirus infection.

These viruses were discovered by the microbiologist W. Rowe in 1953. They were isolated from the tonsils and adenoids of sick children. In the future, American scientists took up their study. They found such viruses in the lymph nodes, in the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, in the organs of vision. In 1962, it was found that some serotypes of adenoviruses can cause the development of cancerous tumors.

The spreader of the infection is a sick person, or a carrier of viruses. Carriers no longer have symptoms of the disease, as they are in the recovery stage. However, adenoviruses are able to remain infectious for 50 days or even longer. There is also speculation that some animals can infect humans with adenovirus infection. However, research on this subject has not yet been completed.

There are 2 ways to spread a viral infection:

• Airborne way. Pathogenic flora is released into the external environment with sputum and mucus when a sick person talks or coughs. To minimize the risk of infection, good hygiene practices must be observed. If a sick person lives in the apartment, then it is necessary to regularly carry out wet cleaning.
• Fecal-oral route of transmission. The virus can be transmitted in this way for another 1,5 months after the first symptoms of infection are detected in the patient. Most often, such viruses provoke the development of intestinal disorders.

There are several ways to kill a virus. The pathogenic flora dies when exposed to high temperatures. Viruses lose their vital activity at a temperature of +50 °C. They are afraid of chlorine and ultraviolet radiation.

After infection, it may take 2-12 days for the first symptoms to appear. The average length of the incubation period is a week. Most often, children aged from six months to 5 years suffer from the disease. Up to 6 months, babies have innate immunity, which they receive from their mother. After the age of 5, children develop their own defense mechanisms against infection.

Mass outbreaks of the disease are rare. However, the virus spreads easily in children’s groups. Viruses can be transmitted by water, so infection often occurs while swimming in pools. This happens on the condition that they are poorly disinfected. Thus, people often become infected with adenoviruses that provoke conjunctivitis.

Symptoms and forms of adenovirus infection

Symptoms of adenovirus infection:

• Increase in body temperature. It can persist at subfebrile levels, and sometimes reaches feverish levels. Body temperature drops quickly.
• Headache.
• Increased fatigue and weakness.
• Rhinitis.
• Sore throat and other catarrhal phenomena. They develop from the first day of illness.
• Edema of mucous membranes.
• Dry cough, which on the 3rd or 4th day of illness becomes wet.
• The appearance of purulent plaque on the tonsils, their soreness.
• Swelling of the mucous membranes.
• Pain in the eyes, tearing.
• Lack of desire to eat.
• Insomnia.
• Pale skin, irritability.
• Abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
• An increase in the size of the lymph nodes.

Since adenoviruses are related to SARS, people often confuse the manifestations of the disease with the flu. Conjunctivitis is a marker that makes it possible to determine that an adenovirus infection is developing in a patient. This symptom cannot go unnoticed. A person has a feeling that sand has been poured into the eyes, they water, they can fester. Moreover, the pathological process can spread to both one and two eyes.

Intoxication of the body with adenovirus infection is not as intense as with influenza. It lasts no longer than 1-2 days. While with the flu, this period stretches for 1-7 days.

Body temperature rises to 38 °C. Within a day, it begins to decline and stabilizes. If the patient has influenza, then the fever is intense. The mark on the thermometer is kept at the level of 39-40 ° C.

Symptoms of adenovirus infection include:

• Conjunctivitis and keratoconjunctivitis.
• Rhinitis and inflammation of the tonsils.
• Inflammation of the bronchi.
• Pharyngitis.
• Inflammation of the lymph nodes in the abdomen (mesenteric lymphadenitis).

These symptoms are often combined with each other.

In childhood, the infection has a pronounced course. In a child of the first year of life, adenoviruses can cause pneumonia. And the disease develops quickly. Breathing becomes hoarse, convulsions, shortness of breath, vomiting may occur. Pneumonia manifests suddenly, while in adult patients this complication is expected if he does not receive the necessary treatment.

If a newborn child has been infected, then he does not have a significant increase in the body, conjunctivitis may develop. Lymph nodes remain normal. This is due to the fact that infants have innate immunity received from the mother. Therefore, the disease does not gain intensity in them.

Young children often suffer from intestinal disorders. The chair becomes frequent, mucus appears in it. Sometimes children complain of severe abdominal pain that resembles acute appendicitis.

Respiratory damage

The spread of infection in the respiratory tract provokes the appearance of purulent-mucous discharge from the nose. The person’s breathing speeds up. When examining a patient, an otolaryngologist will find a white coating on the tonsils and a pronounced swelling of the pharyngeal mucosa. Submandibular and cervical lymph nodes significantly increase in size. The voice of a child or an adult acquires a characteristic hoarseness. In some cases, doctors diagnose patients with a dry cough and shortness of breath.

Conjunctival lesion

The reproduction of viruses in the tissues of the conjunctiva leads to the development of conjunctivitis of various forms: catarrhal, follicular and membranous. The pathological process begins to develop in one eye, but gradually affects the second. Patients complain of pain, burning, sensation of a foreign body. Ophthalmological examination reveals redness and swelling of the skin of the eyelids. In some cases, doctors fix the formation of a dense whitish film on the conjunctiva. A neglected adenovirus infection is complicated by keratitis.

Gastrointestinal tract injury

The penetration of Adenoviridae into the human intestine provokes the development of acute pain in the umbilical region. The patient suffers from diarrhea, systematic attacks of nausea and vomiting. Partially, the clinical picture of the disease coincides with acute appendicitis.

Possible Complications

A severe course of adenovirus infection can lead to the development of meningoencephalitis. Infants suffer from adenovirus pneumonia and respiratory failure. Adults often face secondary infections, against which sinusitis, otitis media and bacterial pneumonia develop.

Diagnostic measures

Diagnosis is performed by a therapist or otolaryngologist – the doctor examines the patient with signs of infection with adenovirus. In the anamnesis of a child or an adult, objective data on symptoms are entered: fever, conjunctivitis, respiratory failure, intestinal disorders. Confirmation of the primary diagnosis is carried out in the course of laboratory studies of the patient’s biomaterials – blood , swabs from the nasopharynx, scrapings from the conjunctiva, feces.

Differential diagnosis makes it possible to exclude influenza, infectious mononucleosis, pharyngeal diphtheria, mycoplasma infection from a person’s history. If the results of laboratory tests are unclear, the therapist may refer the patient for an ophthalmological examination.

Diagnosis of adenovirus infection

Symptoms of adenovirus infection are multiple. They resemble flu, rotavirus, and even inflammation of the appendix, making it difficult to make a correct diagnosis. Therefore, it is not necessary to try to determine on your own what kind of infection caused a health problem.

Doctors use the following methods to diagnose adenovirus infection:

• Oak A blood test can detect a jump in the level of leukocytes. Often this indicator is the first signal of developing pneumonia.
• TANK. If adenovirus did not provoke serious complications, then blood biochemistry does not undergo significant changes. Pneumonia is indicated by the presence of sialic acid, fibrinogen, in the blood. The test result for C-reactive protein will be positive.
• ELISA. This method allows you to detect antibodies to adenovirus in the epithelium of the mucous membranes.
• REEF. The method is aimed at detecting antibodies to the virus. This study is highly accurate.
• PCR. The study allows you to identify the RNA of the virus in various substrates (in the blood, in the smear).
• Sputum examination. It allows you to detect the causative agent of infection and determine its sensitivity to drugs.

Treatment of adenovirus infection

Both in children and in adult patients, the treatment of adenovirus infection occurs according to a single scheme. The basis of therapy is the relief of the manifestations of the disease, the normalization of the patient’s condition, and the increase in immunity. If a person develops complications, then antibiotics are required.

It is recommended in the acute phase of the disease to adhere to bed rest, being isolated from society. The infection is quickly transmitted in the family circle, so you need to follow the rules of hygiene, regularly ventilate the room where the patient is located, and do wet cleaning in it. To reduce the symptoms of intoxication of the body, you should drink as much water as possible.

If the patient does not want to eat, then you do not need to impose food on him. This can cause nausea and vomiting. As a rule, treatment takes place at home. Hospitalization is required in emergency cases, with the development of severe complications. Most often, young children are admitted to the hospital.

To reduce headaches, eliminate nasal congestion and cough, you can take Codelac, Rinostop allows you to cope with a runny nose, Maxicold eliminates fever. Sometimes patients are prescribed antiviral drugs, for example, Amiksin. It not only fights infection, but also boosts immunity. Conjunctivitis requires the use of eye drops and ointments with antibacterial and antiviral effects.

Adenovirus and other types of acute respiratory viral infections are activated with the advent of cold weather. The disease in children, and sometimes in adults, is severe. Therefore, you should not hesitate to contact the doctor. The doctor will be able to choose the optimal treatment, as well as give effective advice on the prevention of the disease.

Forecast and preventive measures

With an uncomplicated course of the disease, patients achieve a complete recovery in five to seven days. A complicated form of adenovirus infection may require hospitalization of a child or adult. In this case, the recovery time increases by 1.5–2 times.

With a sharp increase in adenovirus infection in kindergartens or schools, doctors recommend specific prophylaxis. Carriers of the virus should be referred for outpatient or inpatient treatment. All premises of educational institutions should be treated with antiseptic solutions.

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