Abstract
The excretion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was measured in 80 individuals by the capacity of throat washings to induce long-term proliferation of human umbilical cord leukocytes and the appearance of EBV nuclear antigen in the cultivated cells. Forty-one patients were being treated with azathioprine (2 mg/kg/d) and/or prednisone (10-60 mg/d): of these 21 were renal transplant recipients and 20 had other diseases (18 systemic lupus erythematosus and 2 Goodpasture's syndrome). The other 39 subjects had never received immunosuppressive agents: 21 had chronic uremia and 18 were healthy controls. The excretion rates of EBV, based on single throat samples, were: renal homograft recipients 47%, other patients on immunosuppressive drugs 35%, patients with chronic uremia 14%, and healthy controls 17%. Excretion of EBV was found only in individuals with antibody to EBV capsid antigen, and the rate of excretion was three times greater in patients on immunosuppressive agents.
Five seropositive patients who were not excreting EBV received a renal homograft during the study. Two of these patients began shedding virus 8 and 34 days, respectively, after surgery and starting immunosuppressive therapy.
The results of this study are most compatible with the hypothesis that immunosuppressive drugs are associated with reactivation of latent EBV infections.
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Siegel, N., Strauch, B., Andrews, LL. et al. OROPHARYNGEAL EXCRETION OF EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS BY PATIENTS TREATED WITH IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUGS. Pediatr Res 8, 428 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00531
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00531