To investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of children with positive antibody to Epstein-barr virus.

From January 2014 to December 2016, 2 073 hospitalized children were divided into 4 groups according to the situation of EBV shell antigen (EBV-VCA) antibody: EBV-VCA IgM(+ )/IgG(+ )(n=68), EBV-VCA IgM(+ )/IgG(-)(n=133), EBV-VCA IgM(-)/IgG(+ )(n=692), EBV-VCA IgM(-)/IgG(-)(n=1 180), clinical data of children were collected and retrospectively analyzed.

The overall positive rate of EBV-VCA in 2 073 children was 43.08% (893/2 073). There were significant differences in age, sex and seasonal distribution among different EBV-VCA antibody positive groups(χ²=70.69, 12.22, 17.39, all P<0.05). In this study, fever(75.70%, 676/893), cough(59.35%, 530/893)and pharyngitis(48.26%, 431/893) were the most common clinical manifestations in children with positive EBV antibody.Liver function was examined in 819 children, the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level increased in 12.58% (103/819) children and the serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level increased in 30.40%(249/819) children. Serum creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) was examined in 747 children, and the level of CK-MB increased in 388 cases (51.94%). In both EBV-VCA IgM and IgG positive and only EBV-VCA IgM positive groups, the proportion of children with typical infeetious mononucleosis (IM) manifestation was significantly higher than that in only EBV-VCA IgG positive group(61.76% vs 35.40%, 65.41% vs 35.40%, χ²=18.31, 47.78, all P<0.01).

EBV infection can occur in all ages and seasons in children, and its clinical manifestation is not specific. Therefore, parents and pediatricians should pay attention to EBV infection.