ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Infectious mononucleosis (IM) or Mononucleosis syndrome is caused by an acute infection of Epstein-Barr virus. In Latin American countries, there are little information pertaining to the clinical manifestations and complications of this disease. For this reason, the purpose of this work was to describe the clinical and laboratory characteristics of infection by Epstein-Barr virus in Mexican children with infectious mononucleosis. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out by reviewing the clinical files of patients less than 18 years old with clinical and serological diagnosis of IM by Epstein-Barr virus from November, 1970 to July, 2011 in a third level pediatric hospital in Mexico City. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty three cases of IM were found. The most frequent clinical signs were lymphadenopathy (89.5%), fever (79.7%), general body pain (69.3%), pharyngitis (55.2%), hepatomegaly (47.2%). The laboratory findings were lymphocytosis (41.7%), atypic lymphocytes (24.5%), and increased transaminases (30.9%), there were no rupture of the spleen and no deaths among the 163 cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our results revealed that IM appeared in earlier ages compared with that reported in industrialized countries, where adolescents are the most affected group. Also, the order and frequency of the clinical manifestations were different in our country than in industrialized ones.