Cases of adenoviral penumonia with rapidly progressive clinical course were experienced. We reviewed these patients in viewpoint of clinical manifestation and adenoviral serotypes.

Culture and indirect immunofluorescence for respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus was done with nasopharyngeal aspirates from patients who admitted due to respiratory infections in Fatima Hospital, Masan from Nov. 1996 to Jul. 1997 Cultured adenovirus was serotyped by both neutralization and hemagglutination inhibition test. Medical records were reviewed for 5 patients with respiratory failure from adenovirus was isolated and serotyped.

The total number of examined patients was 460 patients. We isolated respiratory viruses in 143(30.9%) patients. Adenovirus was isolated from 66 out of 143(46.2%) patients. During Jan 1997 to May 1997, five patients with ages of 18 days to 11 months who were infected by adenovirus and had high fever with dyspnea and required assisted mechanical ventilation. One patients discharged against doctor's advice then died. Two of four patients had complications of disseminated intravascular coagulation; two had bronchiolitis obliterans. Two isolates were serotype 7, and one was serotype 5, and two were untyped.

Severe pneumonia caused by serotype 7 continued to occur in 1997 following the epidemic in 1996, and severe pneumonia may also be caused by serotype 5 and other serotypes.