adenovirus can look like flu

[Guest guest]

A killer cold? Even the healthy may be vulnerable

By Amy Burkholder, CNN

(CNN) -- A high school varsity athlete, a sturdy guy with a health

history blissfully free of blips, 18-year-old ph Spencer had

little reason to think anything was seriously wrong when he got sick

last April.

Doctors say ph Spencer could have died from adenovirus, a virus

that usually just causes a cold.

The vomiting, chills, fever -- " It must be the flu, " he thought.

Within hours, Spencer's fever was 104 degrees. Within days, he was in

the intensive care unit at Providence Portland Medical Center in

Oregon with full-blown pneumonia. Spencer's doctor was afraid this

sturdy teenage boy was going to die.

" His lungs had filled up with water, it was hard to get oxygen into

him, " explains Dr. Gilbert, an infectious disease expert and

Spencer's physician at Providence. " Things got so bad, I thought we

were at risk of losing him. "

But as perplexing as what would make a hardy young man so sick -- so

quickly -- was his diagnosis: adenovirus, the virus that usually

causes nothing worse than a nasty cold.

" In the past, we considered adenovirus a 98-pound weakling, " says Dr.

Dean Erdman, leader of the respiratory diagnostic program at the

Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. " But adenovirus is causing

severe disease and, in some cases, death in normal, healthy people. "

At least 1,035 people in Oregon and a handful of other states have

been infected by adenovirus so far this year. One of the largest

outbreaks was at an Air Force base in Texas. Video Watch Dr. Sanjay

Gupta explain the killer cold virus »

But by far the deadliest outbreak is in Oregon, where seven patients

have died.

" Fortunately, Joe survived, " says Gilbert. " Twenty percent of our

patients did not survive this severe infection. "

The bug causing the serious disease is called " adenovirus 14, " one of

the 51-odd strains of adenovirus that typically cause anything from

colds to conjunctivitis and gastroenteritis. While adenovirus isn't a

new bug on the block -- it was first identified in 1955 -- researchers

believe it has mutated into a more virulent form, first identified in

2005.

" We were very surprised when we ran into this much more aggressive

form of adenovirus, which took otherwise healthy people and put them

into our intensive care unit with life-threatening pneumonia, " says

Gilbert.

It is important for doctors to think of adenovirus when confronted

with an ill patient -- recognizing early symptoms before they become

life-threatening. Infectious disease experts say shortness of breath,

cough and fever are all symptoms you should not ignore.

But how big a threat is adenovirus 14 really?

Adenoviruses are ubiquitous, scrappy bugs -- they exist on everything

from pens to countertops to inside our noses. They are spread through

contact with a surface, or through the air we breathe. Most people

won't suffer life-threatening illness if exposed to adenovirus 14, and

that strain of the virus is still pretty rare, but since few people

have antibodies to it, there's opportunity for a new virus to spread

rapidly throughout the population.

" Adenoviruses kill people, " says Gilbert, adding that when these

infectious viruses do spread, they spread fast.

" We are asking physicians is to be alert, not to panic -- but be

alert, " says the CDC's Erdman, who stresses that influenza remains a

much larger public health concern, killing and causing far more

serious illness annually than adenovirus.

Experts stress that one of the most important things for doctors to

recognize is whether a patient has an acute respiratory illness. It

could be adenovirus, something they may not connect to severely ill

patients.

As far as treatments for adenovirus 14, there aren't any -- doctors

focus on managing symptoms -- but researchers are trying to determine

if any antiviral drugs could be effective.

The CDC stresses that while a flu shot is a good idea and you should

get one, it won't protect you against adenovirus 14. But common sense

will: keeping household surfaces clean with a good virus-buster like

bleach, avoiding and covering up coughs and sneezes, and of course,

hand washing.

Spencer is taking life a little slower these days. He still has gaps

in his memory, probably due to oxygen loss. He's made lifestyle

changes, including popping vitamins as religiously as he now washes

his hands: He keeps bottles of hand sanitizer in his car and on his

nightstand.

Most of all, he wants people to know that adenovirus is out there, and

what it can do.

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" I never thought this would happen to me. You'd think it only happens

to unhealthy people, " he says, pausing to find the words to finish his

sentence. " I always thought of myself as a healthy guy until this

happened.

" People need to be aware there's a killer out there. "

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