Quantification of adenovirus in the lower respiratory tract of patients without clinical adenovirus-related respiratory disease

Abstract

Adenovirus in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 50 patients without adenovirus-related illness was quantified. In 49 patients, adenovirus was found (median load, 3.3 × 103 copies/μg of DNA). The adenovirus load was inversely related to lymphocyte count (Pearson correlation coefficient r = -0.311; P = .03) and was significantly greater in immunosuppressed patients than in immunocompetent patients (5.1 × 103 vs. 2.0 × 103 copies/μg of DNA; P = .028). © 2005 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.