EPIDEMIOLOGY OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS INFECTION IN PREADOLESCENT CHILDREN - APPLICATION OF A NEW SALIVARY METHOD IN EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Study objective-To describe the epidemiology of Epstein-Barr virus (EB V) among primary school children by testing saliva with a new EBV caps id antigen ''G'' antibody capture radioimmunoassay (GACRIA). Design-A population based sample of 7 year old schoolchildren were followed up at age 11. Setting-30 randomly chosen primary schools in Edinburgh, Sc otland. Participants-552 schoolchildren. Measurements-Data on risk fac tors for infection were collected by questionnaire at ages 7 and 11. S aliva samples collected at age 11 were examined by GACRIA for evidence of previous infection with EBV. For 102 subjects, a second salivary s pecimen collected approximately one month after the first sample was a vailable for testing as a measure of the repeatability of the method. il lain results-Unequivocal results were found in 91% of samples and t he repeatability of the test was good (kappa=0.71). Fifty six per cent of children had antibodies to EBV. In a logistic regression analysis, independent risk factors for infection were sharing a room (odds rati o 1.78, 1.14, 2.79), head of household's social class IV/V compared wi th I (odds ratio 2.87, 1.08, 7.34), and schools serving predominantly rented housing estates (odds ratio 2.3, 1.09, 4.84). Conclusion-This s tudy is the first application of EBV viral capsid GACRIA to salivary s amples. The method was successfully used to describe the epidemiology of EBV. In this study, characteristics of the home seemed to be more i mportant than those of the school in determining the likelihood of inf ection with EBV.