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Molecular epidemiology of adenoviral conjunctivitis in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Jin XH, Ishiko H, Nguyen TH, Ohguchi T, Akanuma M, Aoki K, Ohno S

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. xhjin@med.hokudai.ac.jp

PURPOSE: To investigate the serotypes of adenovirus causing conjunctivitis in Hanoi, Vietnam. DESIGN: Clinical diagnosis of adenoviral conjunctivitis and laboratory-based experimental study. METHODS: We collected 21 conjunctival swabs from 21 different patients with a clinical presentation compatible with adenoviral conjunctivitis, in Hanoi, Vietnam. Immunochromatography and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed to detect human adenovirus (HAdV). The sequence of PCR products was analyzed to determine the serotype of HAdV. RESULTS: Of 21 samples, HAdV DNA was detected in 14 samples (66.7%) by real-time PCR. The serotype analysis showed HAdV-8 in 11 samples (78.6%), HAdV-3 in two samples (14.3%), and HAdV-37 in one sample (7.1%). Of 11 HAdV-8 samples, one sample (9.1%) was prototype, and the other 10 samples (90.9%) had identical nucleotide sequence and were identified as a variant of HAdV-8. CONCLUSIONS: HAdV-8 was found to be the predominant serotype in Hanoi, Vietnam. Most of the HAdV-8 samples were a variant of HAdV-8.

Published 12 December 2006 in Am J Ophthalmol, 142(6): 1064-6.
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