ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2004 October;163(5):153-7

Copyright © 2004 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Clinical and epidemiological remarks on a series of hepatitis by Epstein-Barr virus

Pellicanò S. ¹, Calzone R. ², Bertuccio A. ³, Rombolà F. ², Bertuccio S. N. ³

¹ A.S.L. 5, Ospedale “S.Giovanni di Dio”, U.O. “Malattie Infettive”, Crotone; ² Regione Calabria, A.S.L. 8, Ospedale “G. Jazzolino”, U.O. “Malattie Infettive”, Vibo Valentia; ³ A.S.L. 8, Ospedale “G. Jazzolino”

Aim. Hepatitis is a ­well-rec­og­nized com­pli­ca­tion of Epstein-Barr vi­rus (EBV) in­fec­tion ­that usu­al­ly re­solves spon­ta­ne­ous­ly. The aim of the ­study was to de­scribe the per­son­al ex­pe­ri­ence in a se­ries of 22 cas­es of EBV hep­a­titis ob­served at the lo­cal ­health ser­vice ASL 8 of Vibo Valentia, (Calabria Region), in the pe­ri­od 2000-2003.
Methods. A se­ries of 57 cas­es of in­fec­tious mono­nu­cle­o­sis was ex­am­ined. The di­ag­nos­tic meth­od is ­based on VCA-EB­NA-IgM pos­i­tiv­ity.
Results. A to­tal of 39% of pa­tients, 14 ­male and 8 fe­male ­were pos­i­tive for hep­a­titis. Agreement is ex­pressed ­with oth­er se­ries as re­gards the ­most in­volved age class­es and ab­sence of jaun­dice. Fever,so­reth­roat, hep­a­tos­ple­nom­e­ga­ly ­were prom­i­nent find­ings.
Conclusion. In lit­er­a­ture, ­many com­pli­ca­tions of in­fec­tious mono­nu­cle­o­sis are de­scribed. Jaundice oc­ca­sion­al­ly re­sults ­from the un­usu­al com­pli­ca­tion of au­to­im­mune he­mo­lyt­ic ane­mia rath­er ­than hep­a­titis. Icteric hep­a­titis and ful­mi­nant fail­ure are ­rare in in­fec­tious mono­nu­cle­o­sis. The prev­a­lence of hep­a­titis com­pli­ca­tion in our se­ries is point­ed out. In sus­cep­ti­ble in­di­vid­u­als EBV is a trig­ger for au­to­im­mune hep­a­titis. EBV in­fec­tion caus­ing hep­a­titis and ful­mi­nant he­pat­ic fail­ure ­should be sus­pect­ed ­when ­tests for oth­er he­pat­o­troph­ic vi­ral in­fec­tions are neg­a­tive.