Table 1.
Patient characteristic.
Fig 1.
Comparative study flow diagram.
A total of 650 clinical visitors were enrolled in this study. They were categorized into two groups. The acute urethritis group included 398 cases, and the no symptoms (asymptomatic) group included 163 individuals. FVU was used for all tests. All specimens underwent screening for the following microorganisms: NG, CT, MG, MH, UP, UU, HI, NM, SP, TV, HAdVs, and HSV. aThe 23 cases in which only HAdV DNA was detected were confirmed as adenoviral urethritis (AU) cases and bthe nine cases in which HAdV DNA and other pathogens were simultaneously detected were considered as adenovirus-associated urethritis (AAU) cases. A total of 32 cases were confirmed as urethritis with adenovirus in the acute urethritis group. Among the 163 individuals in the asymptomatic group, only one case was positive for HAdV DNA alone and two cases simultaneously had both HAdV DNA and other pathogens. Other pathogens were detected in 37 FVU samples, and 124 patients exhibited no pathogens in urine. Abbreviations: NG, Neisseria gonorrhoeae; CT, Chlamydia trachomatis; MG, Mycoplasma genitalium; MH, Mycoplasma hominis, UP, Ureaplasma parvum; UU, Ureaplasma urealyticum; HI, Haemophilus influenzae; NM, Neisseria meningitidis; SP, Streptococcus pneumoniae; TV, Trichomonas vaginalis; HAdV, Human adenovirus; HV, herpes simplex virus.
Fig 2.
Clinic visitors during the study period.
A. The number of acute urethritis cases. The X-axis indicates the epidemiology week, and The Y-axis indicates the number of cases. HAdV DNA detected cases are shown by HAdV types. B. The number of no symptoms cases. The X-axis indicates the epidemiology week, and The Y-axis indicates the number of cases. HAdV DNA detected cases are shown by HAdV types. The number of patients did not differ greatly throughout the years between A and B. No clear seasonal fluctuations in HAdV DNA detection were observed.
Table 2.
Clinical causes of urethritis with adenovirus in cases.
Fig 3.
Changes in the number of HAdV copies over time.
A. Changes in the HAdV genome copy number at the initial, second, and third visits. Cases in which no virus was detected were excluded. The upper panel shows the maximum, 1st interquartile (25%), 2nd interquartile median (50%, black triangle), 3rd interquartile (75%), and minimum values for the number of viral copies. The Y-axis indicates the number of viral copies per 1 mL of urine. B. Number of viral DNA copies at estimated number of days from onset. Changes in virus levels in cases that could be tested are indicated by solid lines. ND indicates not detected. Gray area shows the period during which symptoms were present. Symptoms were observed from days 1 to 10 in all cases, except for Case_IDs 208 and 544. On day 11, only Case_IDs 307 and 477 were symptomatic. Case_ID 208 was unusual but similar to the others in that the patient was symptomatic at the first visit. As time passed, the viral levels decreased and symptoms disappeared. The X-axis indicates the estimated days since onset. The Y-axis indicates the number of viral copies per 1 mL of urine.