Evaluation of Clinical and Laboratory Features of Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Acute Infectious Mononucleosis in Children

Objectives: The various symptoms of infectious mononucleosis associated with Epstein-Barr virus may confuse physicians in differential diagnosis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and laboratory findings of this disease in symptomatic children.Patients and Methods: This study was retrospectively performed on 52 cases (31 boys, 21 girls; mean age 5.4±3.4 years; range 1 to 13 years) with acute Epstein-Barr virus infection. The clinical and laboratory findings were evaluated according to admission time after initial complaints (≤5/>5 days) and the age groups of the cases (≤2/>2 years).Results: The major symptoms were fever, lymphadenopathy and tonsillopharyngitis in the classical triad. Moreover, atypical cases who had ascites, arthritis and severe abdominal pain were defined. No case had a poor prognosis. The most frequent laboratory finding was lymphocytosis. While the major symptoms were more frequent in the group “admission time ≤ 5 days”, the count of atypical lymphocyte were higher in the group “admission time > 5 days”. However, these differences could not be defined between age groups.Conclusion: Infectious mononucleosis due to< Epstein-Barr virus is a disease with good prognosis in children. The features of the disease may vary according to admission time, and this fact should be taken into consideration in the diagnosis