The Nation - Powerful new strain of cold virus kills 10 - The infection can cause severe respiratory disease in otherwise healthy adults. Scientists don't know what caused the outbreaks.
By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer
November 16, 2007
A virulent new form of a common cold virus has killed 10 people and hospitalized at least 53 since May 2006, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
The adenovirus serotype 14 virus has sickened more than 360 people in Texas, Oregon, Washington and New York, the report said. One of the largest outbreaks occurred at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where 106 soldiers were infected and one died.
"Adenoviruses have been known to cause severe disease in the very young and the very old and people with medical problems," said a coauthor, Dr. John Su, a CDC infectious diseases investigator. "What brought this to our attention is that it can cause severe respiratory diseases in otherwise healthy adults."
Researchers did not know what caused the virus to mutate or what sparked the outbreaks.
Adenoviruses come in 51 distinct types, causing a range of illnesses that include pink eye, bronchitis and gastrointestinal problems. There is no drug specifically designed for adenovirus infections, but most infections resolve on their own.
Adenovirus 14 tends to cause colds or respiratory illnesses and can be spread by contaminated surfaces and through air in a cough or sneeze, Su said.
It caused respiratory disease among military recruits in the Netherlands in 1955 but has only been detected sporadically since.
The strain of adenovirus 14 involved in the recent outbreaks is genetically distinct from the 1955 strain, Su said.
The largest outbreaks occurred at four Air Force bases in Texas.
In addition to the cases reported at Lackland, three bases in Texas reported 220 adenovirus-14 infections between March and September.
The outbreaks at the military bases "may potentially have to do with crowding," Su said.
Oregon identified 31 cases, and the median age of those who fell ill was 53, which is younger than the typical age for patients with severe disease, Su said. Seven people, with a median age of 64 years, died from severe pneumonia.
Washington identified four cases; one, a middle-aged patient with AIDS, died. New York reported one death in a 12-day-old infant.
The CDC report follows a study last month from the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego that found infections at military bases in California, Missouri, Illinois and Georgia in addition to Texas, starting in early 2006.
At least 37 people at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego got sick with adenovirus 14, the paper said.
The paper's lead author, David Metzgar, a microbiologist, said his group had found evidence that the same virus has circulated in civilians in California since 2001.
Metzgar, who also contributed to the CDC report, said this new variety of adenovirus 14 might be causing severe outbreaks because people today had not been previously exposed to this strain.
"My personal feeling is it's not particularly bad, but it's just new," he said. "Its newness is generating a rather wicked epidemiological profile."
By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer
November 16, 2007
A virulent new form of a common cold virus has killed 10 people and hospitalized at least 53 since May 2006, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
The adenovirus serotype 14 virus has sickened more than 360 people in Texas, Oregon, Washington and New York, the report said. One of the largest outbreaks occurred at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where 106 soldiers were infected and one died.
"Adenoviruses have been known to cause severe disease in the very young and the very old and people with medical problems," said a coauthor, Dr. John Su, a CDC infectious diseases investigator. "What brought this to our attention is that it can cause severe respiratory diseases in otherwise healthy adults."
Researchers did not know what caused the virus to mutate or what sparked the outbreaks.
Adenoviruses come in 51 distinct types, causing a range of illnesses that include pink eye, bronchitis and gastrointestinal problems. There is no drug specifically designed for adenovirus infections, but most infections resolve on their own.
Adenovirus 14 tends to cause colds or respiratory illnesses and can be spread by contaminated surfaces and through air in a cough or sneeze, Su said.
It caused respiratory disease among military recruits in the Netherlands in 1955 but has only been detected sporadically since.
The strain of adenovirus 14 involved in the recent outbreaks is genetically distinct from the 1955 strain, Su said.
The largest outbreaks occurred at four Air Force bases in Texas.
In addition to the cases reported at Lackland, three bases in Texas reported 220 adenovirus-14 infections between March and September.
The outbreaks at the military bases "may potentially have to do with crowding," Su said.
Oregon identified 31 cases, and the median age of those who fell ill was 53, which is younger than the typical age for patients with severe disease, Su said. Seven people, with a median age of 64 years, died from severe pneumonia.
Washington identified four cases; one, a middle-aged patient with AIDS, died. New York reported one death in a 12-day-old infant.
The CDC report follows a study last month from the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego that found infections at military bases in California, Missouri, Illinois and Georgia in addition to Texas, starting in early 2006.
At least 37 people at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego got sick with adenovirus 14, the paper said.
The paper's lead author, David Metzgar, a microbiologist, said his group had found evidence that the same virus has circulated in civilians in California since 2001.
Metzgar, who also contributed to the CDC report, said this new variety of adenovirus 14 might be causing severe outbreaks because people today had not been previously exposed to this strain.
"My personal feeling is it's not particularly bad, but it's just new," he said. "Its newness is generating a rather wicked epidemiological profile."
