Abstract
Children develop AIDS if a parent or household member falls into one of the high-risk groups. Infections with EBV are common in these patients and are responsible for some of the severe complications of the disease. We have studied a child with AIDS and his mother; both harbor EBV. We wished to determine whether they were infected with the same strain. We examined cellular DNA from lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL's) derived from the child and his mother for different EBV isolates using Southern blot analysis with probes prepared from cloned segments of the EBV genome. A LCL derived from lymph node biopsy tissue and one from the patient's peripheral blood contained two different genotypes of EBV. A LCL that arose spontaneously from mother's blood contained the same two EBV genotypes. A single cell subclone of the mother's LCL contained only one of these strains; thus the mother's LCL was shown to be polyclonal. After one year of observation the infant developed a CNS lymphoma which was shown to contain yet a third EBV genotype. These results indicate that, at least in AIDS patients, simultaneous infections with more than one EBV strain is possible. Whether this is also true of immunocompetent hosts is presently unknown. These data also raise the possibility of vertical transmission of EBV from mother to infant.
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Katz, B., Andiman, W. & Miller, G. 1119 INFECTION WITH MULTIPLE EB VIRUS (EBV) GENOTYPES IN AN INFANT WITH AIDS AND HIS MOTHER. Pediatr Res 19, 297 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-01149
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-01149