An unidentified agent was cultured in primary monkey cells at the Los Angeles County Public Health Department from each of five stool specimens submitted from an outbreak of gastroenteritis. Electron microscopy and an adenovirus-specific monoclonal antibody confirmed this agent to be an adenovirus. Since viral titers were too low, complete serotyping was not possible. Using the DNase-sequence-independent viral nucleic acid amplification method, we identified several nucleotide sequences with a high homology to human adenovirus 41 (HAdV-41) and simian adenovirus 1 (SAdV-1). However, using anti-SAdV-1 sera, it was determined that this virus was serologically different than SAdV-1. Genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that this new adenovirus was so divergent from the known human adenoviruses that it was not only a new type but also represented a new species (human adenovirus G). In a retrospective clinical study, this new virus was detected by PCR in one additional patient from a separate gastroenteritis outbreak. This study suggests that HAdV-52 may be one of many agents causing gastroenteritis of unknown etiology.
