Adenovirus Type 4 Respiratory Infections among Civilian Adults, Northeastern United States, 2011–2015

We read with interest the article by Kajon et al. (1), which highlighted that human adenovirus type 4 might be an underrecognized cause of acute respiratory disease (ARD) outside military settings.We report that human adenovirus B7 (HAdV-B7) might also be a cause of this disease.HAdV-B7 is well recognized as a causative agent of neonatal disease and infections in immunocompromised patients.However, we identified an unusual cluster of 4 cases of severe ARD caused by this pathogen in immunocompetent adults in Dublin, Ireland.These patients had acute respiratory illness when they came to the emergency department of Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin.The patients came to the hospital over a 4-week period during the summer of 2017, and each patient required intensive care support for single-organ failure.Three patients required intubation and ventilation; all 4 patients recovered.