Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that can cause respiratory and intestinal infections.
Adenovirus in kids is a cause for much misery in households across the world. These infections can happen to kids of any age, but are more common in babies and young children. Most kids have had at least one round of adenovirus before their 10th birthday.
Unfortunately, there are many different types of adenoviruses, so humans can be infected multiple times with different strains of the virus. Adenoviruses can cause illness at any time of the year. There is no special “adenovirus season” like there may be for other viruses.
What causes adenovirus infections in kids?
Adenovirus in kids spreads very quickly in school and childcare settings because they are so very contagious. Since they can cause both or either respiratory or digestive tract infection, they are spread in different ways.
Respiratory adenoviruses are spread by:
- Fluid from the nose, mouth, throat, and lungs (respiratory tract) can contain the virus.
- Respiratory droplets that are coughed or sneezed by an infected person
- Touching an object that is contaminated by the virus and then touching your eyes, mouth or nose. The virus can live for many hours on things such as doorknobs, counters, and toys (aka fomites)
Digestive tract infection.
This form of the virus is spread by fecal-oral transmission (it’s as gross as it sounds).
- Contaminated food or water
- Changing diapers and not washing hands well
- Going to the bathroom and then not washing hands well
What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Adenovirus in Kids?
Adenoviruses are some of the meanest viruses around because they not only cause cold symptoms, but GI symptoms as well. Often, kids will start with cold symptoms and then progress to vomiting and diarrhea. Or vice versa.
Symptoms of adenovirus:
- Fever
- Cough, congestion, runny nose
- Eye redness and pain
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Belly pain
- Frequent peeing, burning pain while peeing,blood in the urine
- Headache
- Ear pain
- Possibly the cause of a current hepatitis outbreak
Adenovirus in Kids: How do we treat it?
Treatment depends on your child’s symptoms. There is no medicine that will specifically treat the virus itself, and most definitely antibiotics do not do any good. As is the case with most self limited viral infections, treating the symptoms of the illness is the best while you are waiting for your child’s immune system to fight off the virus.
Treat respiratory symptoms with:
- Honey to ease coughing (in kids > 1 years old)
- Cool mist humidifier, especially during sleeping times
- Lots of fluids by mouth to thin secretions
- Fever reducing medications
Treatment for digestive infection includes:
- Small and frequent sips of fluids during the acute vomiting phase
- Fluids by mouth including pedialyte, oral rehydration solutions, water, ice, popsicles
- Avoid fruit juice
- Formula or breast milk for infants and young babies
- Advance to eating when your child is ready
- Avoid milk for a few days if it bothers your child’s stomach after their illness
How Long Do Adenovirus Infections in Kids Last?
Most of the time, adenovirus infections are self limited and will go away in a few days. Sometimes, there can be symptoms, like a cough, that can linger for another couple of weeks. Vomiting generally improves within 12-24 hours and diarrhea within a few days. Adenovirus likes to cause pink eye which can take up to a week to resolve completely.
Some of the not so nice adenovirus infections are biphasic. This means that the initial symptoms start to improve within a few days, followed by a second round of symptoms to include vomiting and diarrhea. Even in these cases, most kids are completely better one to two weeks after their initial presentation with symptoms.
Can Adenovirus Infections Be Prevented?
Adenoviruses cause illness that is very contagious to others. There are some things that you can do to prevent the spread of the virus once it has infected one person in the house or school:
- Wash hands with soap and water before meals
- Cover coughs and sneezes and then wash hands
- Clean hands after touching contaminated (or potentially contaminated) objects
Concluding Thoughts about Adenovirus in Kids
As an at home pediatrician, I often help families to navigate through Adenovirus infections. When your kids are a member of 127 Pediatrics, you have access to me directly. Visit our website, call or text today to find out more about how we are different.
© 127 Pediatrics, April 2022, 33 Main Street, Suite 160, Colleyville, TX 76034
Dr. Andrea Wadley is a pediatrician located in Dallas/Fort Worth serving families with pediatrician house calls. As a wife and mother, her posts are written with parents in mind, whether you need help with a picky eater, need to find places where kids eat free or want to know more about topics like breastfeeding and lactation.
