Human adenoviruses associated with respiratory illness in neonates, infants, and children in the Sousse area of Tunisia

Background The human Adenovirus (HAdV) is a common agent of acute respiratory infections (ARIs). Its clinical impact in immunocompetent children and in the context of coinfections remains unclear in Tunisia. Material and methods HAdV‐ARIs were studied in hospitalized patients from birth to the age of 5 years from 2013 to 2014. Clinical and demographic characteristics, coinfections, and molecular characterization of HAdV were established. Results HAdV‐positivity was detected in 114/583 specimens (19.6%) including 6.1% single infections and 93.9% coinfections. Adenoviral coinfections mostly comprised human Rhinovirus (50.9%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (34.2%), human Respiratory Syncytial virus A/B (29.8%), and human Coronaviruses (21.9%). HAdV infection was predominant in the pediatric population (25.0% vs 10.0% in neonates, P