Abstract
DNA restriction analysis was carried out on a sample of 212 epidemiologically unrelated adenovirus (Ad) strains of serotype 7 isolated in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina from nasopharyngeal aspirates of children with acute lower respiratory disease between 1984 and 1990. The identified genome types were Ad7b (n = 12), Ad7c (n = 21), and Ad7h (n = 179). The analysis of the occurrence of the three genome types throughout the study period revealed that Ad7c was the predominant virulent variant in 1984 and indicated that a shift to genome type 7h took place in 1986. Ad7b cocirculated with the other genomic variants at a relatively low frequence.