Abstract: Objective To probe the characteristics and pathogenesis of an acute respiratory tract infection and its corresponding emergency control strategy. Methods A visitor from Wuhan with fever was consulted in our emergency department of 309th hospital in January 27th, 2014, one week later all the close contact with the first attacker suffered from different degree of fever. All the fiftythree sufferers with close contact were performed DNA detection of type A influenza virus and adenovirus with PCR by collecting pharyngeal specimen, those patients with positive results were given isolation and treatment. At the beginning of isolation and isolation withdrawing, IgM antibody of nine kinds of pathogens of respiratory tract were measured. Simultaneously, every case of sufferer was investigated by epidemiological questionnaire to describe the epidemiological characteristics and clinical symptoms, and a series of intervention measures were adopted in those patients. Results Of the 53 sufferers with close contact, 17 patients showed adenovirus DNA positive detection, 8 patients with significant clinical symptoms, 1 patient dead, 1 patient with severe clinical manifestation, 6 patients with slight clinical symptoms, and the other nine sufferers with close contact were isolated. All sufferers who had close contact with the first attacker had clinical symptoms mainly including fever, sore throat, pharyngeal hyperemia and hyperplasia of lymphoid follicles in pharynx posterior wall, sever patients with pneumonia showed dyspnea and chest stuffy. CT examination showed pulmonary inflammation in three patients, lung consolidation in two patients and pleural effusion in two cases, which were adenovirus type 7 infection by laboratory examination. Conclusion Adenovirus infection mainly manifests in respiratory symptoms, its diagnosis must be confirmed by DNA detection, and isolation can control its outbreak effectively.