Clinical and virologic characteristics of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection.
Thirty patients with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) infection were analyzed. The study group included 18 male and 12 female patients, ranging in age from 5 to 31 years with a mean age of 14.2 years. Not all patients had high titers of EBV-specific antibodies, but all patients had high viral loads in their peripheral blood (more than 10(2.5) copies/microg DNA). Fifty percent of the patients displayed chromosomal aberrations, and 79% had monoclonality of EBV. Patients were divided into 2 clinically distinct groups, based on whether the predominantly infected cells in their peripheral blood were T cells or natural killer (NK) cells. Over a 68-month period of observation, 10 patients died from hepatic failure, malignant lymphoma, or other causes. Patients with T-cell CAEBV had a shorter survival time than those with NK-cell type of disease.
Kimura
H
H
Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. hkimura@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Hoshino
Y
Y
Kanegane
H
H
Tsuge
I
I
Okamura
T
T
Kawa
K
K
Morishima
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002908:Chronic Disease; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D014766:Viremia
D000914:Antibodies, Viral