Epstein-Barr Virus Infection among Hospitalized Children / 中华医院感染学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and clinical symptoms among hospitalized children by detection of EBV in their throat swabs. METHODS During from Oct 2004 to Apr 2006, EBV-DNA was detected from throat swabs of inpatients in pediatric ward by the technology of fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Totally 3429 cases were detected, 738 cases were positive. The positive rate was 21.5%. In different age groups, the rate of EBV infection was 18.8% for ≤3 years old, 26.5% for 4-7 years old, 29.0% for 8-11 years old, and 31.7% for 12-15 years old, respectively. The rate of EBV infection increased significantly with age increasing (P