Epstein-Barr viral antibodies in multifocal choroiditis and panuveitis.

A syndrome of multifocal choroiditis, pigment epithelial disturbance, and inflammatory vitreous cells was found to be associated with Epstein-Barr virus specific antibodies. The ten patients in this series had positive viral capsid antigen IgM or Epstein-Barr early antigen antibody titers. Patients with this syndrome were generally healthy and had no history of a clinical episode of infectious mononucleosis. No patient from the control group with other ocular diseases had positive viral capsid antigen IgM or early antibody titers. All patients in the study group and most of the control patients had viral capsid antigen IgG and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen antibodies, indicating a previous exposure to the virus as expected in an adult population.