Blood, Vol. 95 No. 7 (April 1), 2000:
pp. 2443-2445
BRIEF REPORT
Coinfection of multiple strains of Epstein-Barr virus
in immunocompetent normal individuals: reassessment of the viral
carrier state
Gopesh Srivastava,
Kai Y. Wong,
Alan K. S. Chiang,
King Y. Lam, and
Qian Tao
From the Department of Pathology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen
Mary Hospital, Hong Kong; the Department of Pediatrics, The
University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong; the Johns
Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, Maryland; and the Tumor
Virology Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Singapore, Singapore.
This study reassesses the occurrence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)
diversity and coinfection versus dominance of a single viral strain
within immunocompetent normal carriers. Polymerase chain reaction
analysis of several different polymorphic loci of the EBV genome was
performed on collections of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and
multiple lymphoid and epithelial tissues of the same individuals.
Autopsy specimens from 15 individuals who died of causes unrelated to
EBV infection served as normal viral carriers. Unexpectedly,
coinfection of multiple distinct strains of EBV of the same type
(usually type 1) and less frequently of both types 1 and 2 was found to
be very high within individual viral carriers. These data indicate that
coinfection with multiple EBV strains is much more prevalent in normal
carriers than previously appreciated, which in turn has direct
implications on EBV persistence, host-viral interaction and pathogenesis.
