Adenovirus advances: new diagnostic and therapeutic options

Adenoviral infection is common, can be severe, and may cause significant morbidity.

Ophthalmologists and optometrists are often guilty of spreading adenovirus because it is highly contagious and has 53 serotypes with variable morphology. Adenovirus is often difficult to diagnose based on clinical appearance and, in the early stages, is associated with a red eye or superficial keratitis common to herpes and other infections. This difficulty results in the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, which are expensive and of no established value in treating a viral infection. The difficulty of accurate diagnosis also makes the use of newer proposed treatments less valuable and even potentially hazardous.

New diagnostic tests such as the Rapid Pathogen Screening (RPS) Adeno Detector that are practical, rapid, and inexpensive to use in the office may obviate these problems.