New disease from an old virus

The Washington Post today reports on outbreaks of a new, virulent and potential lethal strain of a common virus in the United States.

There are 51 known strains of adenovirus, ubiquitous germs that cause many illnesses, including colds, pinkeye, bronchitis, stomach flu and a respiratory infection called boot camp flu that has long plagued soldiers. But adenovirus infections rarely have been life-threatening, especially for healthy young adults.

The new adenovirus is a variant of a strain known as adenovirus 14. First identified in Holland in 1955, it has caused sporadic outbreaks in Europe and Asia. No outbreaks, however, had ever been documented in the Western Hemisphere (before this year).

Comment: We don't always know the agent that is causing epidemics, especially if the disease presents similar symptoms to more common diseases, only localized outbreaks, or the agent is difficult to characterize. So this disease may have been with us in the past, unrecognized. It seems not to be very wide spread now and thus not a major public health threat. Still, it illustrates the potential for new diseases to arise and cause havoc. JAD