Zeng Senqiang, Lu Bingtai, Yang Diyuan, Chen Chen, Xu Xuehua, Xie Yaping, Fan Huifeng, Lu Gen
Department of Respiration, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Medical Research Center, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Transl Pediatr. 2025 Aug 31;14(8):1836-1844. doi: 10.21037/tp-2025-99. Epub 2025 Aug 21.
Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) are prevalent pathogens responsible for respiratory infections. In this study, we examined the relationship between adenovirus viral loads in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the severity of adenovirus pneumonia in children.
The medical records of patients admitted to Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center with confirmed adenovirus pneumonia were analyzed in a prospective manner. We evaluated the potential link between the severity of the disease and the viral load, which was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the BALF of pediatric patients. Furthermore, the study investigated the connection between viral loads in BALF and the progression of the illness.
In hospitalized pediatric patients with adenovirus pneumonia, the viral loads found in BALF were positively associated with the severity of the disease during the acute phase (P<0.05). In addition, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were positively associated with viral loads in BALF, whereas albumin (ALB) levels showed a negative relationship (P<0.05). In addition, In addition, The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that viral loads in BALF displayed great potential for predicting severe adenovirus pneumonia, with a cut-off value of >187,500 copies/mL, which achieved a sensitivity of approximately 77.27% and a specificity of 80.65%.Moreover, viral loads in BALF from patients at the acute stage of the disease were positively correlated with fever duration and length of stay (LOS) at the hospital, and viral loads declined quickly during the recovery stage (P<0.05).
Our findings indicated a significant correlation between viral loads in BALF from patients with adenovirus pneumonia and the severity of the disease. We suggested that viral loads can serve as potential biomarkers for identifying severe cases and predicting the progression of illness.
人腺病毒（HAdVs）是引起呼吸道感染的常见病原体。在本研究中，我们探讨了支气管肺泡灌洗液（BALF）中的腺病毒载量与儿童腺病毒肺炎严重程度之间的关系。
对广州妇女儿童医疗中心确诊为腺病毒肺炎的住院患者病历进行前瞻性分析。我们评估了疾病严重程度与病毒载量之间的潜在联系，病毒载量通过对儿科患者BALF进行实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）测定。此外，该研究还调查了BALF中的病毒载量与疾病进展之间的关系。
在住院的腺病毒肺炎儿科患者中，急性期BALF中的病毒载量与疾病严重程度呈正相关（P<0.05）。此外，乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）和C反应蛋白（CRP）水平与BALF中的病毒载量呈正相关，而白蛋白（ALB）水平呈负相关（P<0.05）。此外，受试者工作特征（ROC）分析表明，BALF中的病毒载量在预测重症腺病毒肺炎方面具有很大潜力，截断值>187,500拷贝/mL，灵敏度约为77.27%，特异性为80.65%。此外，疾病急性期患者BALF中的病毒载量与发热持续时间和住院时间（LOS）呈正相关，恢复期病毒载量迅速下降（P<0.05）。
我们的研究结果表明，腺病毒肺炎患者BALF中的病毒载量与疾病严重程度之间存在显著相关性。我们建议病毒载量可作为识别重症病例和预测疾病进展的潜在生物标志物。
