Abstract
During a 50-month period the diagnosis of heterophil antibody negative infectious mononucleosis or of a mononucleosis-like illness was made in 43 patients with a variable clinical picture and significant numbers of atypical lymphocytes. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related serologic tests revealed that seven patients had primary EBV infections based on the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to EB-viral capsid antigens (IgM-VCA) and the absence of anti-Epstein-Barr virus associated nuclear antigen (EBNA) on most initial specimens (six of seven cases). Thirty cases were due to active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections and both detectable CMV-macroglobulins (≧1:32) and significant anti-CMV titers were present by a complement fixation technic. Abnormalities in liver function were less marked in CMV than in EBV infections in age-matched subjects. Of the remaining six cases, one was due to rubella and one to toxoplasmosis. Four cases were of undetermined etiology. Serums from 38.1 per cent of the patients with heterophil-antibody positive infectious mononucleosis were found to "cross react" in the IgM-CMV test, but serums from patients with acute CMV infection did not cross react in the VCA-specific IgM test. In nine of 36 cases without heterophil antibody (six due to CMV, one due to toxoplasmosis and one apparent infectious hepatitis), anti-D or -R of the early-antigen (EA) complex was detected (1:10 to 1:40), raising the question of reactivation of the EBV-carrier state by intervening infections mainly of viral origin.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 947-957 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | The American Journal of Medicine |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1977 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:From the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, War Memorial Blood Bank and the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Division of Virology, Joseph Stokes .Jr. Research Institute, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This investigation was supported by Laboratory Development Fund No. 380-10 27, Mount Sinai Hospital Laboratory, and Research Grant CA 04568 and Contract No. l-CP-33272 within the Virus Cancer Program, National Cancer Institute, U.S. Public Health Service, and Grant AM 18883, U.S. Public Health Service. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Charles A. Horwitz, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, 2215 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404. Manuscript accepted March 18, 1977. l Recipient of Career Award 5-KGAI-22,883 from the Institutes of Health, US. Public Health Service.
