ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical manifestations of Epstein-Barr virus infection in children and the efficacy of interferon combined with ganciclovir.Methods:A total of 252 children with Epstein-Barr virus infection who received treatment in Liaocheng Maternal and Child Health Hospital from June 2018 to February 2020 were included in this study. They were randomly assigned to undergo treatment either with ganciclovir alone (control group, n = 126) or interferon combined with ganciclovir (experimental group, n = 126). General condition, clinical manifestation, clinical outcomes, and clinical efficacy were compared between the two groups. Results:The 252 children with Epstein-Barr virus infection were divided into four groups according to different age brackets: infancy (3.97%), early childhood (53.57%), preschool (28.97%), school age (13.49%). Children at the early childhood and preschool ages accounted for high proportions. Their clinical manifestations included fever, pharyngeal congestion, cervical lymph node swelling, and pharyngeal pain. Children with hepatosplenomegaly accounted for the highest proportion (44.12%) among those at the school age, and children with binocular edema accounted for the highest proportion (10.37%) among those at the early childhood age. The time to defervesce, eyelid edema, and lymph node regression in the experimental group were (3.55 ± 1.58) hours, (3.82 ± 1.17) hours, and (9.55 ± 1.60) hours respectively, which were significantly shorter than those in the control group [(4.40 ± 1.80) hours, (5.33 ± 1.58) hours, (10.44 ± 1.66) hours, t = 3.64, 2.47, 2.67, P < 0.001, P = 0.024, 0.009]. The total response rate was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group [96.03% (107/126) vs. 84.92% (121/126), χ2 = 9.03, P = 0.003]. Conclusion:Epstein-Barr virus infection has different clinical manifestations in children at different ages. Interferon combined with ganciclovir is more effective on Epstein-Barr virus infection than ganciclovir alone.