Epstein-Barr Virus Vaccine

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), a herpesvirus that causes infectious mononucleosis (mono), infects most people at some point in their lifetime. Infection at a young age may cause mild symptoms, but the most debilitating symptoms appear to take place when infection first occurs in adolescence or young adulthood. Sore throat and swollen neck glands are followed by a period of fatigue and lethargy which can last for weeks or even months. Many high school and college students become infected with EBV each year in the United States, of which half or more may develop mono. The disease usually runs its course without significant medical intervention; however, the long duration of mono can be a serious problem for high school and college students as well as workers. No vaccine is currently available for EBV. Mono affects an estimated 250,000 young adults in the United States and Europe annually. Studies of the U.S. population indicate that approximately 90 percent of adults have been infected with EBV.

EBV is one of the viruses also implicated as a contributing cause of cancer in humans, including Hodgkin's disease, post-transplant and other lymphomas, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (the most common head and neck cancer in large regions of Asia) and Burkitt's lymphoma (a significant disease in Africa).