[Epstein-Barr virus infection and neurological disorders in children-- detection of Epstein-Barr virus genomes in cerebrospinal fluids by polymerase chain reaction technique].

Forty-two patients were admitted to our pediatric clinic as having infectious mononucleosis (IM) or other clinical forms due to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, and 8 (19%) of these patients had central nervous system disorders. In this present report, 4 IM patients and 1 case of reactivated EBV infection with neurologic involvement were studied. All 5 patients had positive CSF for EBV genomic sequences and also EBV-specific antibodies. The presence of EBV genomes in CSF in the neurologic stage, followed by a disappearance during convalescence, supports the notion that EBV plays a direct role in central nervous system complications in primary and reactivated EBV infections. Neurologic complications may also be linked to some extent to an immunopathological reaction between specific antibodies and EBV in the central nervous system.