COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SPECIFIC EBV ANTIBODIES BETWEEN CHILDREN MANIFEST CLASSIC TRIAD OF MONONUCLEOSIS WITH UNAFFECTED CHILDREN IN HAZRAT RASOOL AKRAM HOSPITAL (1998-2000)

Epstein barr virus (EBV) is one of seven known herpes virus pathogenic for humans.Since it is ubiquitous, it infects nearly 95% of individuals worldwide by adulthood .EBV is the etiologic agent of infectious mononucleosis(IM)and is implicated in burkitt lymphoma,nasopharyngeal carcinoma and x-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome.Diagnosis of IM based upon clinical manifestations in conjunction with hematologic evidence for lymphocytosis;and serological changes such as heterophil antibody and or antibodies to EBV specific proteins. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of acute and chronic infections by examining the levels of antibodies against viral capsid ( VCA-IgG and VCA-IgM) and Epstein Barr nuclear antibody (EBNA-IgG) in the serum of children with IM syndrome (patient group) and the serum of unaffected children (control group). This longitudinal case-control study was performed on thirty one children between 1 to 14 years old who were admitted to the pediatric ward of Rasooi Akram hospital; based on diagnostic parameters for IM within two years( 1998-2000). Fortheen patients were eliminated due to other diagnosis .The average age of remaining 17 patients was 6.9+3.3, male/female ratio= 9/8.The results of this study showed a significant difference (p 0.038)between the amount of EBNA-IgG but no significant difference in the amount of VCA-IgG, VCA-IgM between case and control groups. .There is no difference between case and control groups in negative values for VCA- IgM ,VCA -IgG and EBNA-IgG.