comparative study of specific ebv antibodies between children manifest classic triad of mononucleosis wit 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 manifesta¬tions in conjunction with hematologic evidence for lymphocytosis;and serologi¬cal changes such as heterophil antibody and or antibodies to ebv specific pro¬teins. 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 rasool 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 con¬trol groups in negative values for vca- igm ,vca -igg and ebna-igg.