Diffuse Polyclonal B-Cell Lymphoma during Primary Infection with Epstein–Barr Virus

Abstract

ALTHOUGH most primary infections with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in childhood are silent or associated with mild nonspecific illness, a few are recognized as infectious mononucleosis, a lymphoproliferative disease that is usually self-limited.1 Atypical lymphocytosis, a hallmark of infectious mononucleosis, is largely due to the proliferation of T lymphocytes, which are presumably reactive to EBV-infected lymphocytes in peripheral blood and lymph nodes.2 EBV can induce resting B lymphocytes to proliferate indefinitely in vitro,3 but whether virus–infected cells also proliferate in vivo has remained controversial.4 EBV is found in two types of cancer in human beings, Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which . . .