Acute Encephalopathy in Twins due to Adenovirus Type 7 Infection

Abstract

Adenovirus type 7 is usually associated with acute respiratory illness, keratoconjunctivitis, and pneumonia. Encephalitis is one of the conditions caused by severe generalized adenovirus infection. Chany et al¹ first reported the association of encephalitis and adenovirus infection in 1958 after isolating adenovirus type 7 from the CSF and brain tissue of a patient with fatal pneumonia and encephalitis. Since then, reports of CNS infection associated with adenovirus have been sporadic.^2-9 Our report concerns twins who simultaneously became ill with the acute onset of symptoms suggesting encephalopathy, and who recovered completely without sequelae. The isolation of adenovirus type 7 from multiple body sites with greater than fourfold rises in serological antibody titer and the failure to define other causes of their symptoms indicated that these twins had an infection with adenovirus type 7. REPORT OF CASES Thirteen-month-old twins with a one-week history of coughing and coryza were brought