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 . . .