Abstract
BackgroundEpstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a globally prevalent herpesvirus associated with infectious mononucleosis and many malignancies. The survey on EBV prevalence appears to be important to study EBV-related diseases and determine when to administer prophylactic vaccine. The purpose of this retrospective study was to collect baseline information about the prevalence of EBV infection in Chinese children.Methodology/Principal FindingWe collected 1778 serum samples from healthy children aged 0 to 10, who were enrolled in conventional health and nutrition examinations without any EBV-related symptom in 2012 and 2013 in North China (n = 973) and South China (n = 805). We detected four EBV-specific antibodies, i.e., anti-VCA-IgG and IgM, anti-EBNA-IgG and anti-EA-IgG, by ELISA, representing all of the phases of EBV infection. The overall EBV seroprevalence in samples from North and South China were 80.78% and 79.38% respectively. The EBV seropositivity rates dropped slightly at age 2, and then increased gradually with age. The seroprevalence became stabilized at over 90% after age 8. In this study, the seroprevalence trends between North and South China showed no difference (P>0.05), and the trends of average antibody concentrations were similar as well (P>0.05).Conclusions/SignificanceEBV seroprevalence became more than 50% before age 3 in Chinese children, and exceed 90% after age 8. This study can be helpful to study the relationship between EBV and EBV-associated diseases, and supportive to EBV vaccine development and implementation.
Highlights
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) was discovered by Epstein, Achong and Barr in 1964, and it was later classified as Human Herpesvirus 4 (HHV4) [1]
Anti-VCA IgG and IgM appear after the initial EBV infection and will rise rapidly during acute infectious mononucleosis [14]
From two recent studies of EBV seroprevalence in children and teenagers in the U.S ranging from 6 to 19 years old conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), we know that the seroprevalence of 6 to 8-year-olds during 2009–2010 was 50% and 54.1%, and in 18 and 19-yearolds, the seroprevalence was 82.9 and 89%, respectively [18,19]
Summary
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) was discovered by Epstein, Achong and Barr in 1964, and it was later classified as Human Herpesvirus 4 (HHV4) [1]. EBV infection is associated with many diseases, e.g., infectious mononucleosis (IM), Burkitt’s lymphoma, Hodgkin Disease and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) [5,6]. It has been demonstrated that latent infection is associated with several malignancies such as Burkitt’s lymphoma, Hodgkin Disease, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and gastric carcinoma, and even latent infection has been a cause of growing concern [7]. Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a globally prevalent herpesvirus associated with infectious mononucleosis and many malignancies. The survey on EBV prevalence appears to be important to study EBV-related diseases and determine when to administer prophylactic vaccine. The purpose of this retrospective study was to collect baseline information about the prevalence of EBV infection in Chinese children
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