title: Prevalence of EBV in oral squamous cell carcinomas in young patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies reported a difference in the age distribution of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) between Black and White South Africans with OSCC more prevalent in Black patients under the age of 50 compared to Whites.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin embedded blocks of OSCC were divided into two groups: one with a mean age of 56.2 years and the second group all younger than 40 years of age. A control group of 30 non-neoplastic intraoral lesions were selected. A standard PCR reaction was used to amplify the BAM H1 W-fragment of the EBV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EBV DNA was demonstrated in 11/45 (24%) cases from the first group and in 11/45 (24%) cases from the second group. EBV DNA was present in 11/30 (37%) cases from the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the prevalence of EBV in OSCC was not influenced by the age of the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Medical University of Southern Africa, MEDUNSA, South Africa.
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: van Heerden
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: van Rensburg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engelbrecht
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Raubenheimer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral