Seropositivity of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in children and adults and evaluation in terms of the years

Abstract

Aim: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections are common among children and adults around the world. The clinical suspicion and identification of an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is critically important in the treatment of this disease. It is important to understand the regional distribution of EBV seropositivity for diagnosis and clinical approach. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the regional EBV seropositivity in children and adults, differences in development of the disease and clinical changes over time. Materials and methods: The EBV viral-capsid antigen (VCA) IgM and EBV VCA/early antigen (EA) IgG test results of 6822 patients sent to a microbiology laboratory between January 2009 and December 2012 were included in to the study. Tests were conducted using the VIDAS(Biomérieux, France) system in accordance with the kit package insert. Results: The average age was 17.8 years (among 0-94 ages). Of the patients, 2166 (31.8%) were adults, and 4656 (68.2%) were children. A total of 2677 of the children (57.5%) were male, and 1979 (42.5%) were female. There were 1036 (47.8%)male and 1130 (52.2%) female adults. Acute infection was detected in 422 of the patients (6.6%). 342 (81%) of these patients were children. Previous infection was present in 4875 patients (71.7%). Of the children, 7.3% were acute cases. A total of 3.7% of the patients were adult acute cases. Adult patients with previous infection numbered 89.5%, while 63.3% of them were children in this group. There were 1525 (22.4%) seronegative patients. Of these, 1378 were children (90.4%), and 147 (9.6%) were adults. Encountering rate with EBV infectionsdecreased and seronegativity increased with time. Conclusion: The 22.4% measurement of seronegativity among thepatients in our regionsuggests that personal precaution trainingis effective. This situation is consistent with the decreased seronegativity in children over time.