A human adenovirus species B subtype 21a associated with severe pneumonia

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2014.06.015
• Publication Date: 2014-06-27T11:23:08Z
• Authors: Elias Hage; Daniela Huzly; Tina Ganzenmueller; Robert Beck; Thomas F. Schulz; Albert Heim
• Keywords: Adult; Male; 0301 basic medicine; Adenoviruses, Human; Molecular Sequence Data; Pneumonia, Viral; Malaysia; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; Viral Proteins; 03 medical and health sciences; Child, Preschool; Germany; DNA, Viral; Humans; Female; Amino Acid Sequence; Respiratory Tract Infections; Phylogeny

Between 2005 and 2013 six severe pneumonia cases (all requiring mechanical ventilation, two fatal outcomes) caused by human adenovirus type 21 (HAdV-B21) were observed in Germany. So far, HAdV-B21 was mainly associated with non-severe upper and lower respiratory tract infections. However, a few highly virulent HAdV types, e.g. HAdV-B14p1, were previously associated with severe, fatal pneumonia. Complete genomic sequences of the German HAdV-B21 pneumonia isolates formed a single phylogenetic cluster with very high sequence identity (≥ 99.897%). Compared to the HAdV-B21 prototype (only 99.319% identity), all isolates had a unique 15 amino acid deletion and a 2 amino acid insertion in the RGD loop of the penton base which may affect binding to the secondary receptor on the host cells. Moreover, a recombinant E4 gene region derived of HAdV-B3 was identified by bootscan analysis. Thus, the highly virulent, pneumotropic HAdV-B21 was denominated as subtype 21a. Surprisingly, there was 99.963% identity with agent Y/SIBU97 (only 13.4 kb available in GenBank of the 35.4 kb genome) which was associated with 10 fatalities due to cardiopulmonary failure in Sarawak, Malaysia, in 1997. In conclusion, a HAdV-B21 subtype (21a) associated with severe pneumonia in Germany was phylogenetically linked to an adenovirus isolated in Malaysia.