Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica, 50 (1), pp. 23–32 (2003) *This paper was written to commemorate to the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica. 1217-8950/2003/$ 20.00  2003 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest SCREENING ADENOVIRUSES IN STOOL SAMPLES: EVALUATION OF A GENUS-SPECIFIC MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY BASED ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY * K. BÁNYAI 1 , ZSANETT MÁTÉ 1,2 , ÉVA ÁDÁM 3 , MÁRIA ÚJ 1 , I. NÁSZ 3 AND G. SZŰCS 1,4 1 Regional Laboratory of Virology, Baranya County Institute of State Public Health Service, Szabadság út 7, P.O. Box 47, H–7601 Pécs, 2 Department of General and Environmental Microbiology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Pécs, Ifjúság útja 6, H–7624 Pécs, 3 Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, P.O. Box 370, H–1445 Budapest, 4 Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pécs, Szigeti út 12, H–7624 Pécs, Hungary (Received: 14 January 2002; accepted: 1 February 2002) To screen fecal samples for adenovirus antigens a genus-specific monoclonal antibody based enzyme immunoassay was developed. In a comparative analysis with commercial latex agglutination test, high sensitivity was demonstrated. The assay did not detect other viruses usually found in faeces suggesting its specificity. One hundred and eighty stool samples collected in Baranya County were tested and 13 (7.2%) of them showed reactivity. The application of our immunoassay combined with other, more sophisticated methods may help us to determine the serotype specificity of these adenovirus isolates and assess the importance of adenoviruses in viral gastroenteritis. Keywords: adenovirus, gastroenteritis, enzyme immunoassay Introduction Human adenoviruses (Ads) comprise 51 different serotypes. At least two serotypes, Ad40 and Ad41, also called enteric adenoviruses (EAds), often induce viral gastroenteritis [1]. Most of the adenovirus-associated diarrhoea occur in infants and young children. Seroepidemiological studies indicated that 50% of children develop neutralizing antibodies against these serotypes by four years of age [2, 3]. Although the adenovirus-associated diarrhoea is usually milder than diarrhoea caused by rotavirus, a prolonged hospital treatment has been demonstrated [4, 5]. In addition, enteric adenoviruses are responsible for outbreaks in different settings [6, 7, 8] and may cause severe infections in immunocompromised patients [9] and occasionally death [10].