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Causes and pathogenesis of adenovirus infection
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The cause of adenovirus infection in children is adenovirus. The entrance gates of adenovirus infection are often the upper respiratory tract, sometimes the conjunctiva or the intestine. By pinocytosis adenoviruses penetrate the cytoplasm, and then into the nucleus of susceptible epithelial cells and regional lymph nodes. Viral DNA is synthesized in the nuclei of the affected cells and mature virus particles appear in 16-20 h. This process leads to an end to the division of the infected cells, and then to their death. Reproduction of the virus in epithelial cells and regional lymph nodes corresponds to the incubation period.
Released virus particles penetrate into unaffected cells, as well as into the blood. Initially, the mucous membrane of the nose, posterior pharyngeal wall, amygdala is affected. Regional lymph nodes are involved in the process. Inflammatory changes have a pronounced exudative component, which causes abundant serous discharge and swelling of the mucous membranes. If the conjunctiva is affected on the mucous membrane, there may be an effusion with the formation of a delicate film.
Adenoviruses can penetrate into the lungs and multiply in the epithelium of the mucous membrane of the bronchi and alveoli and cause pneumonia, necrotic bronchitis. Adenoviruses also enter the intestine in the fecal-oral transmission pathway or when drifting with blood. Viralemia ensures the involvement of not only the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, but also the kidneys, the liver and the spleen. In case of death, cerebral edema can occur. In the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary manifestations in adenovirus infection, along with the virus, a bacterial infection is involved.
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