Epidemiological characteristics of Epstein-Barr virus infection in children / 公共卫生与预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objectives To describe the Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection of children in Hefei, analyze its epidemiological characteristics, and explore the factors affecting EBV infection. Methods The children as the outpatient in the department of our hospital were recruited as the research subjects from June 2018 to June 2021. Epidemiological data of the research subjects were collected from medical records and the laboratory tests were performed to detect the related serological indicators of EBV. The distribution characteristics of different serological antibodies of EBV were described. According to the types of serological antibodies, all research subjects were divided into three states primary infection, previous infection and non-infection. Logistics regression was used to analyze the factors affecting the infection status. Results There were 480 children in this study. The mean age and body mass index of all research subjects were 8.7±1.5 years and 20.78±3.2kg/m2, respectively. There were 276 boys(57.50%) and 204 girls(42.50%). 67 children(12.92%) were positive for VCA-IgM antibody. 326 children(67.92%) were positive for VCA-IgG antibody. 290 children(60.42%) were positive for NA-IgG antibody and 25 children(5.21%) were positive for EA-IgG antibody. There was no significant distribution difference of serological antibodies in gender, season of onset, disease duration, fever, angina and enlargement of lymph nodes. However, there were significant distribution differences of serological antibodies among different body mass index(χ2=50.207, P2=48.295, Pprimary infection vs. non-infectionprimary infection vs. non-infection=0.580; Pprevious infection vs. non-infection=0.038, ORprevious infection vs. non-infection=2.347). Conclusion The previous infection by EBV is the mainly infection type in children aged 6 to 12 year. The positive VCA-IgG antibody accounts for the most in previous infection. Age is the important influencing factor on EB infection. The younger the age, the higher the probability of primary infection. Besides, the positive VCA-IgM antibody is the main pattern of primary infection in children.