Frequency of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) anti-antibody titer in 0-14 year old children referred to Aliasghar clinic in Zahedan

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection produces a wide variety of clinical symptoms ranging from an asymptomatic infection to the classic infection "mononucleosis". Clues of the virus have also, been found in some malignancies. Since the lower the age at infection onset, the weaker the clinical symptoms will be the disease can be asymptomatic and atypical in children. Regarding epidemiologic factors affecting EBV infection, the present study was carried out to determine the frequency of EBV anti-antibody titer in 1- 14 year old children. In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, which was done between 2005 and 2006, all 0-14 year old children who had been referred to Aliasghar Children Clinic in Zahedan were surveyed. Questionnaires covering individual information queries were filled out for all children and their blood samples were taken. By using ELISA the amount of EBV anti-antibody (vcA-IgG) in the samples was measured. Finally, the obtained data was analysed by means of SPSS software using chi-square statistical test and P≤0.05 was taken as the significant level. Out of 245 cases under study, 138 cases (56.3%) were males and 107 cases (43.7%) were females. Mean age of the subjects was 4.72±3.07 years and mean family members was 5.2±1.8. Most (81.2%) of the cases revealed positive titer, 11% had negative titer, and 7.8% were intermediate after excluding less than one-year old children from the study -because of their inborn antibody- the result in percentage terms was 81.3%, 11.1%, and 7.6% respectively which did not reveal a significant difference with the previous stage. Antibody titer in both sexes was not significantly different. Regarding the findings of this study, total prevalence of EBV infection among children is around 81.3%, which increases with age and living in large families. With respect to available statistics previous similar studies it revealed that the incidence of the infection in Zahedan was more than other sites, probably due to familial overpopulation and low level of hygiene.