Molecular Epidemiology of Circulating Human Adenovirus Types in Acute Conjunctivitis Cases in Chandigarh, North India

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is a major cause of viral conjunctivitis. The various serotypes implicated in the causation are 3, 4, 8, 19 and 37. The present study aimed to know the circulating types of HAdV causing acute conjunctivitis in North India. A total of 23 conjunctival swabs were collected from patients with clinically suspected acute viral conjunctivitis during 2014–2015. The HAdV was implicated in the etiology in 65.2% of cases. The sequencing of representative samples using hexon gene suggests the presence of serotype 8 and 4. The serotype eight sequences showed 99%–100% similarity with other Indian strains. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the current circulating serotypes, responsible for conjunctivitis, belonged to epidemic keratoconjunctivitis strains.