Seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr virus infection in children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zhejiang, China

Fengqing Cai; Hui Gao; Qing Ye

doi:10.3389/fped.2023.1064330

Seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr virus infection in children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zhejiang, China

Front Pediatr. 2023 Feb 9:11:1064330. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1064330. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Fengqing Cai¹, Hui Gao¹, Qing Ye¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, National Children's Regional Medical Center, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: All children admitted to the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University from January 2019 to December 2021 with suspected EBV-associated disease and EBV antibodies were detected by a two-step indirect method of chemiluminescence technology. A total of 44,943 children were enrolled in this study. The seroprevalence of EBV infections was compared from January 2019 to December 2021.

Results: The total seropositive rate of EBV infections was 61.02% between January 2019 and December 2021, and the seropositive trend decreased year by year. The total number of seropositive EBV infections in 2020 was reduced by 30% compared to that in 2019. In particular, nearly 30% and 50% reductions in the number of acute EBV infections and EBV reactivations or late primary infections from 2019 to 2020 were found, respectively. The number of acute EBV infections in children aged 1-3 years and EBV reactivation or late primary infection in children aged 6-9 years in 2020 sharply dropped by approximately 40% and 64% compared to that in 2019.

Conclusions: Our study further demonstrated that the prevention and control measures for COVID-19 in China had a certain effect on containing acute EBV infections and EBV reactivations or late primary infections.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Epstein–Barr virus; children; infections; seroprevalence.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82270741), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (grant no. LY22H050001), the Key Project of Provincial Ministry Construction, Health Science and Technology Project Plan of Zhejiang Province (grant no. WKJ-ZJ-2128), and Key Research and Development Plan of Zhejiang Province (grant no. 2021C03079).