Epstein-Barr virus antibodies in neurological diseases.

Antibody titers to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were determined in 57 cases of acute or subacute neurological diseases. As a result, sera from 11 cases (7 Bell's palsy, 2 encephalitis and 2 acute cerebellar ataxia) were found to be positive for antibodies to early antigen. Seven of these 11 cases either seroconverted for IgG antibodies to viral capsid antigen (VCA) or were proven positive for anti-VCA-IgM antibodies in the serum. While 4 were found positive for IgG antibodies to VCA in CSF, 3 tested by the anti-complement immunofluorescence method were all negative for EBV-associated nuclear antigen (EBNA) in CSF. Three of the 11 cases were considered to be of a primary infection with EBV because of a negative serologic test for antibodies to EBNA initially; a reinfection with the virus or a reactivation of the latent infection was suspected in some of the remaining cases.