Fatal Hepatic and Bronchial Necrosis in Adenovirus Infection with Thymic Alymphoplasia

ADENOVIRUSES have been isolated from symptomless infants and children as well as from patients with mild febrile inflammatory processes involving the conjunctivas, upper respiratory tract, lungs and intestine.1 In general, the prognosis at all ages is good. However, some fatalities in infants and small children with adenovirus pneumonia have been reported from various countries.1 , 2 Predisposing factors are assumed to be responsible for the occasional severity of the adenovirus infection.3 4 5 A decreased host resistance associated with thymic alymphoplasia and congenital agammaglobulinemia is believed to have been responsible for the development of a disseminated adenovirus (Type 2) infection in this patient, the . . .