Prevalence of human adenovirus type 3 associated with pharyngoconjunctival fever in children in Osaka, Japan during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the epidemiological pattern of pharyngoconjunctival fever (PCF) caused by human adenovirus (HAdV), the prevalence and type distribution of HAdVs associated with PCF among children in Osaka, Japan, between 2019 and 2023 have been analyzed. The number of reported PCF cases in Osaka decreased from 2020 to 2022, followed by an unprecedented increase in 2023. HAdV-C strains, including types C1, C2, and C5, were annually detected in pathogen surveillance in Osaka. HAdV-B3 was not detected for 2 years and 9 months from March 2020, and the number of detections increased from July 2023. In total, HAdV-B3 was the most frequently detected (27 of 52 strains), and genetic analysis of its hexon hypervariable regions showed that, except for one strain, the HAdV-B3 strains identified after 2022 had different amino acid substitutions compared to those identified in 2019 and 2020. These results suggest that the PCF epidemic in 2023 was predominantly caused by variant strains of HAdV-B3, and children who have not acquired immunity against HAdV-B3 between 2020 and 2022 were thought to be infected. The impact of COVID-19 on the prevalence of HAdV infections needs to be continuously evaluated through surveillance.