A Filterable Agent in Throat Washings of Patients with Infectious Mononucleosis

Abstract

A viral etiology for infectious mononucleosis (IM) has been suspected for many years. There is recent evidence that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is implicated in this disease [1-3]. As yet, no one has successfully transmitted EBV from patients with IM to cell cultures [2]. As a result, epidemiologic and clinical investigations have been limited mainly to serologic studies. This paper reports studies in which throat washings from IM patients converted an indicator lymphoid cell from negative to positive for EBV antigen.