The role of a rapid diagnostic test (adenovirus immune dot-blot) in the control of an outbreak of adenovirus type 8 keratoconjunctivitis

Twenty-three patients were involved in an outbreak of adenovirus type 8 infection based at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital in the spring of 1991. Confirmation of adenovirus infection was by means of the immune dot-blot test (IDBT) and virus culture, the latter allowing serotype 8 to be identified as the cause. Epidemiological tracing and limited restriction endonuclease analysis of the virus isolated suggest that 15 patients contracted the infection within the Casualty Department following attendance for minor eye trauma, 10 being infected by the same junior doctor. Seven patients presented with an established adenovirus type 8 conjunctivitis at the first hospital visit and the source of their infection could not be identified. Laboratory confirmation of adenoviral involvement took an average of 5 days by IDBT, compared with 33 days by virus culture. Rapid identification of adenovirus by IDBT enabled early institution of control measures thereby limiting the size of the outbreak.