Epidemiological Investigation of the Outbreak of Acute Respiratory Infection caused by Adenovirus Type B55 in a Physical Education School in 2017

Song, Jeongsuk; Lee, Hyerim; Cho, Enhi

The adenovirus (HAdV) is a double-stranded DNA virus. It is divided into seven species by DNA homology and has more than 70 serotypes [1] . Depending on the serotype, HAdV causes various infectious diseases such as respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, and epidemic conjunctivitis. The most common infection due to HAdV is pharyngitis [2, 3] . Mainly developed among children, most of them recover naturally. However some cases progress to severe respiratory infection such as pneumonia and cause death. The known types that cause severe respiratory infection among adults are types 3, 4, and 7, and types 14 and 55 have been reported as the cause of outbreaks [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . Adenovirus is transmitted via respiratory droplets, fecal to oral routes, or contaminated environments, and rarely via swimming pool water [10, 11] . The incubation period of an acute respiratory infection by adenovirus is 2~14 days [2] . Adenovirus infection outbreak in swimming pool, the healthcare facilities, and military camps have been reported [5, [12] [13] [14] [15] . An oral vaccine has been introduced in the United States to prevent extensive epidemics of respiratory infections caused by types 4 and 7 in military camps [16] . In Korea, a severe case of adenovirus infection in a military camp, cases of pneumonia and consequent death caused by type 55 have been reported [17] [18] [19] [20] . But there has been no report of adenovirus respiratory infection outbreak in schools, education facilities, and private residential facilities in Korea. This study is the first report of the outbreak of acute respiratory infection caused by adenovirus, occurred on school in Korea.