HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Versión de esta artículo en PDF Take the CME quiz: Vol. 26 No. 3, March 2005 Author Disclosure Rapid Responses: Submit a response Rapid Responses: View responses Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Junker, A. K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Junker, A. K.

Epstein-Barr Virus

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Objectives

 
After completing this article, readers should be able to:

1. Outline the epidemiology of primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection.
   
2. Describe and explain the physiologic basis of the clinical features of infectious mononucleosis.
   
3. Describe and explain the physiologic basis of the common complications of infectious mononucleosis.
   
4. List the diagnostic tests that can help distinguish acute primary from distant past EBV infection.
   
5. Review the EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders and malignancies.
   

	Introduction

 
EBV was identified initially in 1964 in tumor tissue from a patient who had African Burkitt lymphoma (BL), a rapidly growing, usually fatal malignancy of the B lymphocyte. When a laboratory technician working with this new virus became ill with mononucleosis and seroconverted to EBV, the link between EBV and mononucleosis became apparent. Soon thereafter, seroepidemiologic studies revealed that EBV infects virtually all of the world’s population, usually as a subclinical or trivial illness in childhood. A decade later, reports of a familial X-linked disorder of fatal infectious mononucleosis highlighted the importance of immunogenetic factors in the management of EBV infection. Now, nearly 40 years after its discovery, EBV continues to captivate clinicians, virologists, oncologists, geneticists, and immunologists attempting to understand this highly successful human pathogen.

	Epidemiology

 
EBV is a ubiquitous, worldwide pathogen that is harbored persistently by virtually all adults, regardless of geographic location. After primary infection, the virus latently infects circulating B cells and is shed silently into saliva and genital secretions. The colloquial term "kissing disease" acknowledges the oral route by which most people are infected. Spread is associated with close personal contact, so it is not surprising that the age at first infection varies according to living conditions. Infection occurs at an earlier age in the presence of poor hygiene and crowded living conditions; infection rates in young children are higher in developing countries and underprivileged societies. Depending on the population . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Click here for Epstein-Barr Virus Author Disclosure Data Supplement

Rapid Responses: