Infectious diseases >>>> Adenovirus infection

Adenovirus infection.

Adenovirus infection belongs to the group of acute respiratory viral infections. The causative agent is adenovirus, which has 90 varieties of the strain, 49 of which are pathogenic for humans. Children get sick more often than adults, because most adults have antibodies to adenoviruses. The source of the virus is a virus carrier or a sick person.

The ways of transmission of the virus are varied, ranging from airborne droplets and ending with common household items. The virus is found in sputum and conjunctival compartments, feces. A person is extremely susceptible to adenoviruses, but at the end of the disease, he develops immunity to adenovirus infection. As a rule, the risk group for contracting adenovirus is children under 5 years old. Often the disease spreads, for example, to the entire kindergarten group.

Most often, adenovirus infection spreads during the off-season and in winter, due to the significant resistance of the virus to low temperatures (the virus dies at 56 degrees).

Adenovirus penetrates the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, digestive tract, conjunctiva, penetrates into the nuclei of sensitive cells and multiplies, leading to cellular damage.As the adenovirus multiplies, an inflammatory process develops in the tissues (including necrotic changes), and its spread is lymphogenic by leading to inflammation of the lymph nodes. The tonsils are often involved. Sometimes a secondary bacterial infection joins the adenovirus infection, which aggravates the course of the disease and can lead to severe complications (otitis media, sinusitis, bacterial pneumonia).

Signs of adenovirus infection:

An increase in temperature (in children up to 39-40 in Celsius, and in adults it is lower),
Runny nose,
Sore throat and / or sore throat,
Swelling of the mucous membranes,
Signs of granular pharyngitis are visible,
Increased cervical and submandibular nodes,
May be complicated by the development of false croup,
Acute conjunctivitis develops (usually one eye is affected),
Development of keratoconjunctivitis is possible,
Dyspeptic disorders are sometimes observed.

Diagnosis of adenovirus infection is carried out using the method of immunofluorescence of a nasal smear. To detect antibodies to adenovirus, complement binding reactions and passive hemagglutination reactions are used. It is necessary to differentiate adenovirus infection and similar diseases: influenza, coronavirus infection, parainfluenza, rhinovirus infection, mycoplasmosis, enterovirus diseases, mononucleosis, meningococcal infection.

Treatment of adenovirus infection takes place at home, only patients with severe complications of adenovirus infection (for example, pneumonia) are hospitalized.

An adult does not need any special treatment, since the disease is mild. In children, adenovirus infection is treated according to the symptoms:

With inflammation and swelling of the nasal mucosa, nasal drops are prescribed to relieve swelling and restore nasal breathing,
If there are signs of pharyngitis or tonsillitis, these diseases are treated accordingly (it should be borne in mind that adenoviruses are resistant to an acidic environment, therefore, alkaline solutions are used when rinsing),
Inflammation of the conjunctiva is treated in the same way as independently occurring conjunctiva,
In the presence of meningeal syndrome, diuretics (herbal or synthetic) are prescribed,
In severe cases, it is possible to use immunostimulating therapy,
The attached bacterial infection is extinguished with antibacterial drugs, but the choice is made towards those antibiotics that affect the liver to a lesser extent, since adenovirus sometimes causes damage to liver cells,
Antibiotic therapy for the prevention of bacterial infection is not carried out in advance.