Identification of the hexon region of an adenovirus involved in a new outbreak of keratoconjunctivitis.

We tested 15 adenovirus (Ad)-positive patients involved in a case of nosocomial spread of keratoconjunctivitis. A neutralization test, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and sequencing of the hypervariable regions of the hexons were performed in order to identify the type of Ad involved. The serotype of the Ad was not identical to any published Ad sequence by either method.