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Of 418 stool specimens of infants tested, 45 specimens contained adenoviruses, mainly the types 1 and 2, 40 and 41. Infections by these types caused symptoms of the gastrointestinal and the respiratory tract to varying degrees: adenoviruses 40 and 41 frequently caused gastroenteritis, adeno 2 was often associated with diarrhoea, adeno 1 mostly caused illness of the respiratory tract necessitating hospitalization of the infants. As adenoviruses may produce--especially during the first years of life--severe diseases of the respiratory and the gastro-intestinal tract, their detection will be of major importance to the pediatrician, the more so as today's methods of detection of adenoviruses are easier and less time-consuming than in the past.

To study the infection rate with adenoviruses (Ad) in infants, sera from 75 infants aged 8 to 26 months were tested for neutralizing antibodies against Ad 1 to 39. Antibodies against Ad 1, 2, 5, and 6 were frequently found, against Ad 7 more rarely, whereas one serum reacted with each Ad 3, 4, 18, 31, and 37 and none with all other types. A significant association of positive reactions against several or all of Ad 1, 2, 5, and 6 was observed in neutralization, but not in hemagglutination inhibition, probably due to a subgenus-specific antibody response. The titer of neutralizing antibodies in human gammaglobulin was determined as an estimate for the prevalence of Ad 1 to 39 in the general population.