Human enteric adenovirus F40/41 as a major cause of acute gastroenteritis in children in Brazil, 2018 to 2020

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 11220
• Main Authors: do Nascimento, Lilian Gonçalves, Fialho, Alexandre Madi, de Andrade, Juliana da Silva Ribeiro, de Assis, Rosane Maria Santos, Fumian, Tulio Machado
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02-07-2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/1647/514/1948; 692/4017; 692/420/254; 692/699/1503/1501; Adenoviruses; Children; Epidemiology; Gastroenteritis; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Phylogeny; Rotavirus; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seasonal variations; Viruses; Brazil
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15413-1

Human adenovirus (HAdV) types F40/41 have long been recognized as major viral agents of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children. Despite this, studies on HAdV molecular epidemiology are sparse, and their real impact is likely under-estimated. Thus, our goal was to investigate HAdV incidence, enteric and non-enteric types circulation, co-detections with rotavirus and norovirus and DNA shedding in stool samples from inpatients and outpatients from eleven Brazilian states. During the three-year study, 1012 AGE stool samples were analysed by TaqMan-based qPCR, to detect and quantify HAdV. Positive samples were genotyped by partial sequencing of the hexon gene followed by phylogenetic analysis. Co-detections were accessed by screening for rotavirus and norovirus. Overall, we detected HAdV in 24.5% of single-detected samples (n = 248), with a prevalence of type F41 (35.8%). We observed a higher incidence in children between 6 to 24 months, without marked seasonality. Additionally, we observed a statistically higher median viral load among single-detections between enteric and non-enteric types and a significantly lower HAdV viral load compared to rotavirus and norovirus in co-detections (p < 0.0001). Our study contributes to the knowledge of HAdV epidemiology and reinforces the need for the inclusion of enteric types F40/41 in molecular surveillance programs.