Infections Due to Adenovirus Type 8 in the United States

Abstract

IN western countries outbreaks of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis have been limited largely to ophthalmic clinics of certain industries (such as shipyards), where minor eye trauma frequently occurs.1 2 3 Once introduced into an industrial dispensary or eye clinic, the virus is passed from one patient to the next by minor procedures such as tonometry and foreign-body removal.1 , 4 Secondary spread from adults thus infected to their immediate families is rare.2 , 5 In Japan, where there is a high endemic level of adenovirus Type 8, children are commonly infected.6 In young children the infection appears as a systemic disease, with fever, respiratory or gastrointestinal signs and . . .