Human adenoviruses (HAdV) associated with pediatric patients in Bern, Switzerland. Genomic analyses of human adenoviruses

We used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate whether there were any differences between circulating HAdV strains causing severe infections (meningitis, intussusception, sepsis, sudden infant death syndrome, and death) and mild clinical presentations in hospitalised pediatric patients in Bern, Switzerland. The HAdV species implicated in causing severe infections in this study included HAdV species C (HAdV1, HAdV2, and HAdV5) and HAdV species E (HAdV4). Clustering of the HAdV whole-genome sequences of the severe and mild cases did not show any difference except for one sample (isolated from a patient with sepsis) that formed its own cluster with HAdV species C strains. Our findings confirm that recombination among HAdVs may be important for molecular evolution and emergence of new strains. Therefore, continued monitoring, identification, and research on HAdV particularly among susceptible groups is strongly required.