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      Epidemiology of Epstein-Barr virus infection and infectious mononucleosis in the United Kingdom

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          Abstract

          Background

          Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous gamma-herpesvirus with which ~ 95% of the healthy population is infected. EBV infection has been implicated in a range of haematological malignancies and autoimmune diseases. Delayed primary EBV infection increases the risk of subsequent complications. Contemporaneous seroepidemiological data is needed to establish best approaches for successful vaccination strategies in the future.

          Methods

          We conducted a sero-epidemiological survey using serum samples from 2325 individuals between 0 and 25 years old to assess prevalence of detectable anti-EBV antibodies. Second, we conducted a retrospective review of Hospital Episode Statistics to examine changes in Infectious Mononucleosis (IM) incidence over time. We then conducted a large case-control study of 6306 prevalent IM cases and 1,009,971 unmatched controls extracted from an East London GP database to determine exposures associated with IM.

          Results

          1982/2325 individuals (85.3%) were EBV seropositive. EBV seropositivity increased more rapidly in females than males during adolescence (age 10–15). Between 2002 and 2013, the incidence of IM (derived from hospital admissions data) increased. Exposures associated with an increased risk of IM were lower BMI, White ethnicity, and not smoking.

          Conclusions

          We report that overall EBV seroprevalence in the UK appears to have increased, and that a sharp increase in EBV seropositivity is seen in adolescent females, but not males. The incidence of IM requiring hospitalisation is increasing. Exposures associated with prevalent IM in a diverse population include white ethnicity, lower BMI, and never-smoking, and these exposures interact with each other. Lastly, we provide pilot evidence suggesting that antibody responses to vaccine and commonly encountered pathogens do not appear to be diminished among EBV-seronegative individuals. Our findings could help to inform vaccine study designs in efforts to prevent IM and late complications of EBV infection, such as Multiple Sclerosis.

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          Most cited references14

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          Recombinant gp350 vaccine for infectious mononucleosis: a phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of an Epstein-Barr virus vaccine in healthy young adults.

          To date, there is no commercially available vaccine to prevent infectious mononucleosis, a disease frequently induced by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in adolescents or adults devoid of preexisting immunity to the virus. A total of 181 EBV-seronegative, healthy, young adult volunteers were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive either placebo or a recombinant EBV subunit glycoprotein 350 (gp350)/aluminum hydroxide and 3-O-desacyl-4'-monophosphoryl lipid A (AS04) candidate vaccine in a 3-dose regimen. The vaccine had demonstrable efficacy (mean efficacy rate, 78.0% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.0%-96.0%]) in preventing the development of infectious mononucleosis induced by EBV infection, but it had no efficacy in preventing asymptomatic EBV infection. One month after receipt of the final dose of gp350 vaccine, 98.7% of subjects showed seroconversion to anti-gp350 antibodies (95% CI, 85.5%-97.9%), and they remained anti-gp350 antibody positive for >18 months. Furthermore, there were no concerns regarding the safety or reactogenicity of the gp350/AS04 vaccine. These data support the clinical feasibility of using an EBV vaccine to prevent infectious mononucleosis. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00430534.
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            Infectious mononucleosis

            Infectious mononucleosis is a clinical entity characterized by pharyngitis, cervical lymph node enlargement, fatigue and fever, which results most often from a primary Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection. EBV, a lymphocrytovirus and a member of the γ-herpesvirus family, infects at least 90% of the population worldwide, the majority of whom have no recognizable illness. The virus is spread by intimate oral contact among adolescents, but how preadolescents acquire the virus is not known. During the incubation period of approximately 6 weeks, viral replication first occurs in the oropharynx followed by viremia as early as 2 weeks before onset of illness. The acute illness is marked by high viral loads in both the oral cavity and blood accompanied by the production of immunoglobulin M antibodies against EBV viral capsid antigen and an extraordinary expansion of CD8+ T lymphocytes directed against EBV-infected B cells. During convalescence, CD8+ T cells return to normal levels and antibodies develop against EBV nuclear antigen-1. A typical clinical picture in an adolescent or young adult with a positive heterophile test is usually sufficient to make the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis, but heterophile antibodies are not specific and do not develop in some patients especially young children. EBV-specific antibody profiles are the best choice for staging EBV infection. In addition to causing acute illness, long-term consequences are linked to infectious mononucleosis, especially Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple sclerosis. There is no licensed vaccine for prevention and no specific approved treatment. Future research goals are development of an EBV vaccine, understanding the risk factors for severity of the acute illness and likelihood of developing cancer or autoimmune diseases, and discovering anti-EBV drugs to treat infectious mononucleosis and other EBV-spurred diseases.
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              Seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in U.S. Children Ages 6-19, 2003-2010

              Background Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a common herpesvirus linked to infectious mononucleosis and multiple cancers. There are no national estimates of EBV seroprevalence in the United States. Our objective was to estimate the overall prevalence and sociodemographic predictors of EBV among U.S. children and adolescents aged 6–19. Methods We calculated prevalence estimates and prevalence ratios for EBV seroprevalence using data from the 2003–2010 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for children aged 6–19 (n = 8417). Poisson regression was used to calculate multivariable-adjusted prevalence ratios across subgroup categories (sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, household income, household size, foreign-born, BMI, and household smoking). Findings Overall EBV seroprevalence was 66.5% (95% CI 64.3%–68.7%.). Seroprevalence increased with age, ranging from 54.1% (95% CI 50.2%–57.9%) for 6–8 year olds to 82.9% (95% CI 80.0%–85.9%) for 18–19 year olds. Females had slightly higher seroprevalence (68.9%, 95% CI 66.3%–71.6%) compared to males (64.2%, 95% CI 61.7%–66.8%). Seroprevalence was substantially higher for Mexican-Americans (85.4%, 95% CI 83.1%–87.8%) and Non-Hispanic Blacks (83.1%, 95% CI 81.1%–85.1%) than Non-Hispanic Whites (56.9%, 95% CI 54.1%–59.8%). Large differences were also seen by family income, with children in the lowest income quartile having 81.0% (95% CI 77.6%–84.5%) seroprevalence compared to 53.9% (95% CI 50.5%–57.3%) in the highest income quartile, with similar results for parental education level. These results were not explained by household size, BMI, or parental smoking. Among those who were seropositive, EBV antibody titers were significantly higher for females, Non-Hispanic Blacks and Mexican-Americans, with no association found for socioeconomic factors. Conclusions In the first nationally representative U.S. estimates, we found substantial socioeconomic and race/ethnic differences in the seroprevalence of EBV across all ages for U.S. children and adolescents. These estimates can help researchers and clinicians identify groups most at risk, inform research on EBV-cancer etiology, and motivate potential vaccine development.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Ruth.dobson@qmul.ac.uk
                Journal
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2458
                12 June 2020
                12 June 2020
                2020
                : 20
                : 912
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.4868.2, ISNI 0000 0001 2171 1133, Preventive Neurology Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, , Queen Mary University London, ; London, UK
                [2 ]GRID grid.416041.6, ISNI 0000 0001 0738 5466, Department of Neurology, , Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, ; London, UK
                [3 ]GRID grid.4991.5, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 8948, Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Population Health, , University of Oxford, ; Oxford, UK
                [4 ]GRID grid.16872.3a, ISNI 0000 0004 0435 165X, Department of Pathology, , VU Medical Center, ; Amsterdam, The Netherlands
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2993-585X
                Article
                9049
                10.1186/s12889-020-09049-x
                7291753
                32532296
                d9d9a72b-1cf0-4982-a28e-88ad341adbd7
                © The Author(s) 2020

                Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

                History
                : 3 February 2020
                : 4 June 2020
                Funding
                Funded by: Barts Charity
                Award ID: MGU0365
                Award Recipient :
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2020

                Public health
                epstein barr virus,infectious mononucleosis,glandular fever,seroprevalence,antibody response

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