The enormous diversity of cold-causing viruses essentially rules out a vaccine. Vitamin C and bacterial vaccines are unproven. Most adenoviruses grow easily in cell culture, and give rise to large intranuclear inclusions. Type Specific Antigen Can identify a specific type by neutralisation of infectivity or haemagglutination. They infect the mucous membranes of the eye, respiratory and gastro intestinal tract, occasionally urinary tract.
Infections are usually self-limiting.
Asymptomatic Infection Adenoviruses may be present in healthy persons, eg. Acute pharyngitis with fever Adenoviruses are a common cause of an acute sore throat. Pharyngoconjunctivical fever Adenoviruses may cause an acute conjunctivitis together with a shore throat and fever. This is a non-purulent contagious inflammation with pearly, translucent lymphoid hyperplasia. Has been prevented by enteric capsulation of a live vaccine strain which bypasses the respiratory tract and sets up a silent infection in the gut, giving protection against acute respiratory infection.