Children’s Participating in Groundbreaking Adenovirus Study
from School Health Reporter, Spring 2005
The Children’s Hospital is one of just 15 centers in the U.S. participating in a study of a virus that spreads so fast in close quarters that it infects 2,500 military personnel a month.
The virus, called adenovirus and nicknamed the “boot-camp virus,” is most common in children, said Christine Robinson, PhD, coordinator of Research, Development and Outcomes in the Microbiology/Virology Lab at Children’s. The virus typically causes from 2 percent to 10 percent of all respiratory illness in kids, but it can infect almost any part of the body. Most common, though, is a flu-like illness characterized by fever, sore throat and labored breathing often mistaken for other routine childhood illnesses, Robinson said.
More than half of all children will develop the virus by age 10, she said. Most children will recover in a few days, but children with weakened immune systems and even some healthy children can die. Most adenovirus infections spread like a cold, especially where people are in close contact, such as military barracks, schools, day-care centers and physician's offices.
Since the Virology Lab started keeping records in 1990, Children’s has seen more than 900 children with the virus, said Robinson, the study's principal investigator. The number of adenovirus infections seen each year has been steadily increasing, with almost 100 cases identified since July 2004. In addition, the severity of several of the 50-some strains of adenovirus appears to be increasing, she said.
That’s why Gregory Gray, MD, of the University of Iowa spearheaded the National Surveillance for Emerging Adenovirus Infections, the nation's most ambitious study of adenovirus epidemiology.
Dr. Gray received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to collect adenoviruses from across the U.S. for three years.
Children’s was chosen as one of 15 sites, Robinson said, because of its patient population and also because Robinson is somewhat of an adenovirus “buff” – she currently is writing a chapter on the virus for a microbiology textbook.
During the study, Children’s will culture specimens from children with suspected adenovirus as usual. If adenovirus grows, Children's will send viral isolates once a month to the University of Iowa for analysis, along with notes on how serious the child's virus was and any underlying problems.
The data then will be posted on a Web site.
Researchers are collecting samples from four high-risk groups: children under 7 years of age; individuals with solid-organ transplants; military trainees; and other patients with adenovirus disease.
The Department of Defense created a vaccine for the virus more than three decades ago, but stopped producing it in 1996 because of the cost. However, after years of outbreaks in military installations, the FDA has made redevelopment of the vaccine a top priority. The new vaccine is expected to be out by 2006, Robinson said.
“This virus is building up potential to do nasty things to kids,” she said. “We have the opportunity to help our kids and military recruits across the country and contribute to basic knowledge.”
