Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) is an eye disease of well-defined characteristics. The viral nature of this condition had been suspected for a long time from epidemiological studies and from inoculation experiments. Claims of possible isolation of causative viruses have been made by several investigators, but until recently there has been little agreement between the results obtained in different laboratories, and the etiological importance of the reported agents has not been fully established.1
In 1955, Jawetz et al.2 isolated a new adenovirus, Type 8, from a case of EKC. In May, 1956, Mitsui3 reported the subsequent isolation of a strain of adenovirus Type 8 from a case of EKC in Kumamoto, Japan. Chang4 isolated a strain of Type 8, as well as several other adenovirus types, from cases of conjunctivitis in children in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, Mitsui5 isolated five strains of Type 8 virus from an epidemic