What are the symptoms of chronic EBV infection?

People will encounter many health challenges in modern life. Among them, viruses are an unavoidable factor because viruses are everywhere in life, waiting for opportunities to invade people's bodies and bring great impacts to the body. For example, chronic Epstein-Barr virus infection is a relatively common situation. The infection rate of this virus is very high. Let’s take a look at the symptoms of chronic Epstein-Barr virus infection.

EB virus is a human herpes virus that is widely distributed throughout the world and is mainly transmitted through saliva. The infection often occurs in young children and often has no obvious symptoms. Antibodies can be detected in 90% of adults. When the infection is primary, it can cause infectious mononucleosis. EBV infection is closely related to the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and African childhood lymphoma. In recent years, it has been found that oral gland tumors, thymomas, tumors after organ transplantation, and B lymphoma in AIDS patients are related to EBV infection.

The main clinical manifestations of this disease are as follows:

1. Except for extremely mild cases, all patients have fever, with body temperature ranging from 38.5~40℃, accompanied by chills. The fever type may be prolonged fever, remittent fever or irregular fever, and the fever course may range from several days to several weeks, or even 2 to 4 months. There may be a relatively slow pulse in the early stage of the disease.

2. Lymph node enlargement: More than 70% of patients have enlarged lymph nodes, which are 0.5 to 4 cm in size, medium in texture, with no obvious tenderness or mild tenderness, no suppuration, and bilateral asymmetry. The most common lymph nodes are occipital and cervical, followed by axillary and groin nodes. The thoracic, mediastinal and mesenteric lymph nodes may also be occasionally affected. The enlarged lymph nodes may subside slowly and may last for weeks to months after the acute symptoms subside.

3. About half of patients with pharyngitis experience sore throat. Congestion or edema of the pharynx, uvula, and tonsils. A small number of patients have ulcers or pseudomembrane formation on the pharyngeal mucosa and tonsils. There may be bleeding spots on the soft palate and pharyngeal arches, and the gums may also be swollen or ulcerated. Laryngeal and tracheal edema and obstruction are rare.

4. Rash: About 10% of cases develop rash 1 to 2 weeks into the disease, mostly on the trunk. The rash is polymorphic and may appear as maculopapular rash, scarlet fever-like rash, erythema nodosum, urticaria, etc., and occasionally as a hemorrhagic rash. The rash disappears in 3 to 7 days without leaving any trace or desquamation. Soft palate ecchymoses may precede or be accompanied by the rash.

5. Hepatomegaly and splenomegaly Hepatomegaly can be seen in 10% of patients, which may be accompanied by mild tenderness. Abnormal liver function may occur in up to 2/3 of cases. Jaundice is rare (in some endemic areas, the number of jaundice cases may be as high as 15%). 50%~70% of cases have splenomegaly, mostly 2~3cm below the costal margin, and spleen rupture may occasionally occur.