Clinical and laboratory characteristics of infectious mononucleosis by Epstein-Barr virus in Mexican children

The utility of liver function tests and abdominal ultrasound in infectious mononucleosis - A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

A large proportion of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) have abnormal liver function tests (LFT) at presentation. There is no guideline regarding the management and follow-up of these patients. Some patients also have abdominal ultrasound due to deranged LFT, the need for this practice is unclear. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence base on LFT assessment in IM, time to resolution of derangement, and the role of abdominal ultrasound (US).

METHODS

A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane library was done. Two authors independently screened records for eligibility using pre-defined criteria. We included both adult and paediatric populations. Quality assessment of included studies was done.

RESULTS

A total of 3924 patients were included from 32 studies, of which LFT values were reported on 2779 patients. A combination of typical clinical features, heterophile antibodies and EBV-specific antibodies were used to ascertain diagnosis. The following proportion of patients had abnormal LFTs: AST (57%); ALT (62%); ALP (65%); Bilirubin (16%); GGT (41%). Reported median (i.q.r.) time to resolution of LFT was 8 (6-12) weeks (n = 438). Maximum time to resolution was >6 months. Clinical hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were found in 35% and 44% of patients respectively. Enlarged liver and spleen on US were seen in 16/29 and 38/38 of patients respectively. There were no reports of decompensated liver disease.

CONCLUSION

Current evidence questions the need for routine assessment of LFTs in immunocompetent patients presenting with IM; serial LFT assessments following initial abnormalities are not required in immunocompetent patients with subclinical derangement of LFTs; routine US abdomen in IM to evaluate for derangement of LFTs is not required.

The Nature and Clinical Significance of Atypical Mononuclear Cells in Infectious Mononucleosis Caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus in Children

Atypical mononuclear cells (AM) appear in significant numbers in peripheral blood of patients with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated infectious mononucleosis (IM). We investigated the number and lineage-specific clusters of differentiation (CD) expression of atypical mononuclear cells in 110 children with IM using the anti-CD antibody microarray for panning leukocytes by their surface markers prior to morphology examination. The AM population consisted primarily of CD8+ T cells with a small fraction (0%-2% of all lymphocytes) of CD19+ B lymphocytes. AM amount in children with mononucleosis caused by primary EBV infection was significantly higher than for IM caused by EBV reactivation or other viruses and constituted 1%-53% of all peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared to 0%-11% and 0%-8%, respectively. Children failing to recover from classic IM associated with primary EBV infection within 6 months had significantly lower percentage of CD8+ AM compared to patients with normal recovery rate.

Infectious Mononucleosis: A Case Report With Unusual Features and Abnormal Laboratory Findings

Despite the widespread Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections, we continue to see new reports with strange and unusual manifestations of the infection, which raises the question of how well we understand this pathogen. The age of contracting the infection is increasing in developed countries, which is changing the clinical presentation of those who get infected during their adolescence or early adulthood. In these stages, liver involvement is more prominent, and other physical symptoms are less apparent. Therefore, an update on infectious mononucleosis (IM) variable manifestation is required to make healthcare providers aware of this shift. This case stands as an example of the new shift as a patient scheduled for elective surgery suddenly presented with subclinical hepatitis caused by primary EBV infection. Our patient presented with few physical symptoms but had a classical picture of EBV-induced hepatitis on blood analysis. The diagnosis was missed by many physicians due to the varied presentations of IM. This case corresponds to the new evidence that suggests that hepatic involvement is one of the most prominent manifestation in the adult population with primary EBV infection.

Pattern of infectious diseases in northern Iran: An approach to internal medicine management

BACKGROUND

Despite the development of their prevention and treatment, infectious diseases cause high mortality, many disabilities and inadequate living conditions worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of infectious diseases in northern Iran with an approach to internal medicine management.

METHODS

This cross-sectional research was conducted in 2019 on all 7095 infectious diseases patient records that referred to Ghaemshahr Razi Hospital, Mazandaran Province, Iran during 2012-2018. A checklist prepared by investigator was used to collect the data. The extracted data were coded and entered into SPSS 22 and analyzed using K2 and independent t-test at p<.05.

RESULTS

The mean age of the study patients was 29.7±26.4. 4372 (61%) of the cases were males and the mean duration of hospitalization was 41.6±33.5. Age was significantly correlated to infectious diseases (P=.001). Gastroenteritis was the most common infectious disease among the men and women with 2442 (60.5%) and 1594 (39.47%), respectively. Based on the Pearson's correlation test, the relationship between leptospirosis, brucellosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, shigellosis, sepsis and infectious mononucleosis with gender, habitation, admission mode, discharged mode and age was significant (p<.05).

CONCLUSION

As the high frequent diseases were gastroenteritis, leptospirosis, brucellosis and sepsis and an increasing trend was in the prevalence of gastroenteritis, leptospirosis and lung tuberculosis, health system managers should consider training courses, preventive strategies, real-time interventions, increased hospital bed rate for patients with infectious diseases and so on.

TLR4 896A/G and TLR9 1174G/A polymorphisms are associated with the risk of infectious mononucleosis

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns and activate innate and adaptive immune responses. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the TLR genes may influence host–pathogen interactions and can have an impact on the progression of infectious diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the genotype distribution of TLR2 (2029C/T, rs121917864; 2258G/A, rs5743708), TLR4 (896A/G, rs4986790), and TLR9 (− 1237T/C, rs5743836; − 1486T/C, rs187084; 1174G/A, rs352139; and 2848C/T, rs352140) polymorphisms in 149 children and adolescents with infectious mononucleosis (IM) and 140 healthy individuals. The potential association of TLR SNPs with the clinical manifestations of EBV infection was also studied. The presence of TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9 SNPs was identified by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP). EBV DNA loads were detected by quantitative real-time PCR assay. The TLR4 896 GG and the TLR9 1174 GA genotypes were associated with an increased risk of EBV-related IM in examined patients (p = 0.014 and p = 0.001, respectively). The heterozygous genotype of the TLR4 896A/G SNP was associated with an increased risk of elevated liver enzyme levels and leukocytosis (p < 0.05). Our preliminary study revealed that the TLR4 896A/G and the TLR9 1174G/A polymorphisms seem to be related to the course of acute EBV infection in children and adolescents.

Primary Epstein-Barr virus infection with and without infectious mononucleosis

Background

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a common adverse presentation of primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in adolescence and later, but is rarely recognized in early childhood where primary EBV infection commonly occurs. It is not known what triggers IM, and also not why IM risk upon primary EBV infection (IM attack rate) seemingly varies between children and adolescents. IM symptoms may be severe and persist for a long time. IM also markedly elevates the risk of Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple sclerosis for unknown reasons. The way IM occurrence depends on age and sex is incompletely described and hard to interpret etiologically, because it depends on three quantities that are not readily observable: the prevalence of EBV-naϊve persons, the hazard rate of seroconverting and the attack rate, i.e. the fraction of primary EBV infections that is accompanied by IM. We therefore aimed to provide these quantities indirectly, to obtain epidemiologically interpretable measures of the dynamics of IM occurrence to provide etiological clues.

Methods and findings

We used joint modeling of EBV prevalence and IM occurrence data to provide detailed sex- and age-specific EBV infection rates and IM attack rates and derivatives thereof for a target population of all Danes age 0–29 years in 2006–2011. We demonstrate for the first time that IM attack rates increase dramatically rather precisely in conjunction to typical ages of puberty onset. The shape of the seroconversion hazard rate for children and teenagers confirmed a priori expectations and underlined the importance of what happens at age 0–2 years. The cumulative risk of IM before age 30 years was 13.3% for males and 22.4% for females. IM is likely to become more common through delaying EBV infection in years to come.

Conclusions

The change in attack rate at typical ages of puberty onset suggests that the immunologic response to EBV drastically changes over a relatively short age-span. We speculate that these changes are an integrated part of normal sexual maturation. Our findings may inform further etiologic research into EBV-related diseases and vaccine design. Our methodology is applicable to the epidemiological study of any infectious agent that establishes a persistent infection in the host and the sequelae thereof.

Infection by Epstein-Barr virus in Fes (Morocco). Prevalence and predictors of positivity in nasopharyngeal cancer

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence and genotypic distribution of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in a sample of patients of Hassan II University Hospital (Morocco) due to nasopharyngeal pathologies and requiring a biopsy. We identified factors associated to the EBV infection.

METHODS

112 patients were recruited (January 2012-October 2014). Biopsies were conducted for the molecular diagnosis of EBV. The data collected included sociodemographic characteristics, smoking and drug abuse, medical background and histologic diagnosis. The EBV diagnosis was performed via the Polymerase Chain Reaction.

RESULTS

50% of patients were infected by EBV (98.2% with EBV type A compared to 1.8% type B). Most infected patients were ≥40years(65.5%), male (59.6%) and in unfavorable socioeconomic circumstances. 83.3% of patients with lymphoma and 69.8% of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma presented concomitant EBV infections. 88.9% of patients who took drugs were infected by EBV compared to 47.7% of those who did not. In the multivariate analysis, age (OR 1.03; IC95% 1.02-1.06), smoking (OR 4.28; IC95%1.24-14.78) and having a malignant process (OR 6.96; IC95% 2.26-21.44) were significantly associated with EBV.

CONCLUSIONS

Infection by EBV is related to several factors, such as advanced age, smoking, and suffering a malignant process. In subjects with malignant pathologies, positivity to EBV seems to be inferior to that found in other countries.

Evolution of EBV seroprevalence and primary infection age in a French hospital and a city laboratory network, 2000-2016

BACKGROUND

According to rare studies, the age at EBV primary infection (PI) has recently risen in some developed countries. A later age at infection is generally considered a risk factor for severe EBV PI, although few studies exist on this subject. Our investigation aimed to determine whether EBV seroprevalence and EBV PI epidemiology have evolved in France, and to what extent age and infection intensity (regarding biological parameters) are correlated.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

We conducted a retrospective study of the following EBV serological tests databases: tests carried out at Grenoble University Hospital (2000-2016) (n = 53,553); and tests carried out by a network of city laboratories in Grenoble area (2008-2015) (n = 27,485). The hospital population showed a continuous, significant decrease in EBV seroprevalence over the studied period for patients aged 20 and over (p<0.01). The seroprevalence also decreased for different age classes (<10, 15-19, 20-30, and 30-40 years old) over the periods 2001-2005, 2006-2010, and 2011-2015. Consistently, the age at PI was significantly higher in the years 2008-2015 than in the years 2001-2007 (15.6±12.0 vs. 13.7±11.0; p = 0.03). The city laboratory population showed the same trend of decreasing seroprevalence (p = 0.06); no significant variations in age at PI were observed. The age at PI was positively correlated with ASAT, ALAT, γGT, and bilirubin blood levels (p<0.01) and negatively correlated with platelet counts (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

In the last 15 years, the age at EBV PI has increased, whereas seroprevalence has decreased. Moreover, our findings confirm the positive correlation between age and biological abnormalities. Taken together, these results suggest that the incidence of severe EBV PI will increase in the future.

Epstein-Barr virus infection of infants: implications of early age of infection on viral control and risk for Burkitt lymphoma

Since its first description by Denis Burkitt, endemic Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), the most common childhood cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, has led scientists to search for clues to the origins of this malignancy. The discovery of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in BL cells over 50 years ago led to extensive sero-epidemiology studies and revealed that rather than being a virus restricted to areas where BL is endemic, EBV is ubiquitous in the world's population with an estimated greater than 90% of adults worldwide infected. A second pathogen, Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) malaria is also linked to BL. In this review, we will discuss recent studies that indicate a role for P. falciparum malaria in dysregulating EBV infection, and increasing the risk for BL in children living where P. falciparum malaria transmission is high.

Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings in Danish children hospitalized with primary Epstein-Barr virus infection

BACKGROUND

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a common disease in adolescents. However, IM is often considered a rare disease in early childhood. We aimed to describe the classical presentation of adolescent EBV-associated IM compared to EBV infection at younger age.

METHODS

All immunocompetent children hospitalized at Hvidovre University Hospital, Copenhagen between 2002 and 2013, who presented with clinical features that prompted a laboratory test for EBV, and who tested positive by presence of EBV-specific antibodies, heterophile antibodies or a positive EBV PCR were included (n = 95).

RESULTS

Children aged 1-2 years were the age group most commonly hospitalized with acute EBV infection (27% of the cohort), followed by teenagers aged 14-15 years (23%). Fever, cervical lymphadenopathy, tonsillitis and fatigue were the most common physical findings overall. Dividing the children into three age groups (0-4 years, 5-10 years and 11-15 years) revealed that the oldest age groups significantly more often suffered from headache, tonsillitis, sore throat, abdominal pain and nausea. Young children typically presented with a runny nose, fever, fatigue and cervical adenitis. Compared with children under 5, children aged 5-15 years more often showed lymphocytosis (84% vs 62%), elevated alanine aminotransferase (77% vs 33%) and lactate dehydrogenase (79% vs 44%).

CONCLUSION

EBV infection is common in young children, and children less than 3 years of age constitute the largest group of hospitalizations for acute EBV infection. EBV-associated IM should be suspected in febrile children of all ages with tonsillitis, lymphadenopathy, lymphocytosis and elevated liver enzymes.

The levels of liver enzymes and atypical lymphocytes are higher in youth patients with infectious mononucleosis than in preschool children

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is the clinical presentation of primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus. Although the literature contains a massive amount of information on IM, most of this is related specifically to only children or adults separately. In order to distinguish any differences between preschool children and youth patients, we retrospectively analyzed their demographic and clinical features.

METHODS

Records of patients hospitalized from December 2001 to September 2011 with a diagnosis of IM were retrieved from Peking University First Hospital, which is a tertiary teaching hospital in Beijing. The demographic data and clinical characteristics were collected.

RESULTS

IM was diagnosed in 287 patients during this 10-year period, with incidence peaks among preschool children (≤7 years old, 130/287, 45.3%) and youth patients (>15 and <24 years old, 101/287, 35.2%). Although the complaints at admission did not differ between these two patient groups, the incidence of clinical signs (tonsillopharyngitis, lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, and edema of the eyelids) was much higher in preschool children. The incidence of liver lesion and percentage of atypical lymphocytes were significantly higher in the youth group (P<0.001), and the average hospital stay was longer in this group. Pneumonia was the most common complication, and there was no case of mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of IM peaks among preschool children and youth patients in Beijing, China. The levels of liver enzymes and atypical lymphocytes increase with age.