Adenovirus: It feels just like the flu, but the vaccine is for military only

Show Caption Hide Caption Flu continues to spread throughout U.S. U.S. health officials say the flu blanketed the U.S. again last week for the third straight week. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention says 49 out of 50 states are seeing "widespread" flu activity. (Jan. 26)

The massive flu outbreak gripping the U.S. could let a lesser-known infection slip through the cracks. And even if more doctors checked for the flu-like bug known as adenovirus, the vaccine to prevent it remains licensed for military use only.

That's according to a new report published this week by the Centers for Disease Control in its journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases, which suggests the military's exclusive vaccine be considered for civilian use.

Adenovirus can feel like the flu: Symptoms include fever, sore throat and diarrhea, the CDC notes.

But the lack of effective surveillance to assess its prevalence makes determining the toll of adenovirus difficult, the report says, and the lack of a vaccine could leave civilians living in cramped quarters needlessly vulnerable.

The study, lead-authored by Adriana Kajon of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in New Mexico, concluded that the "vaccine currently licensed for military use should be considered a potentially valuable resource to prevent disease in susceptible populations living in closed communities, such as college settings, summer camps, and long-term care facilities."

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A non-stop surge in military training camps of adenovirus-related outbreaks prompted the Department of Defense to reinstate the vaccine in 2011 after some years away, the study found, "dramatically reducing" cases of adenovirus.

The study concludes that adenovirus type 4, discovered amid military outbreaks in the 1950s, may act as an underestimated cause of acute respiratory disease among civilian adults.

Kajon, the study's lead author, told NBC News that more surveillance is needed, but that a civilian vaccine to prevent adenovirus-related deaths (think pneumonia, she said) requires commercial interest.

And compared to the flu at least, adenovirus may not have that. The flu causes between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths each year. A particularly bad outbreak of adenovirus in 2007 left 10 dead.

"Unfortunately, it all comes down to the perception of having a market," she told the network.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

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