Self-collected oral flocked swabs to measure prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus antibodies and DNA amongst university students

Avika Misra; David J Speicher; Kathy Luinstra; Julia Maciejewski; Melissa Richard-Greenblatt; Yang Yu; Marek Smieja

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115295

Self-collected oral flocked swabs to measure prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus antibodies and DNA amongst university students

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2021 May;100(1):115295. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115295. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Authors

Avika Misra¹, David J Speicher², Kathy Luinstra³, Julia Maciejewski³, Melissa Richard-Greenblatt⁴, Yang Yu⁵, Marek Smieja⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
² Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada; M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁵ Newfoundland and Labrador Public Health Laboratory, Eastern Health, Public Health and Microbiology Laboratory, St John's, NL, Canada.
⁶ Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada; M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Health Research Methods, Evaluation and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: smiejam@mcmaster.ca.

PMID: 33497868
DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115295

Abstract

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) exposure and illness is common in undergraduate university students and may affect academic achievement, social life, and quality of life. We designed a study to measure EBV exposure (EBV-IgG, either Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA-1)-IgG or viral capsid antigen (VCA)-IgG) and current viral shedding (EBV-DNA) using self-collected oral swabs among university undergraduate students. Of 184 students enrolled, 129 (70.1%) tested positive for EBV-IgG. Salivopositivity was associated with being in a current relationship, but not with enrollment year. Forty (21.7%) of the participants tested positive for EBV-DNA, which was associated with all symptom scores, including history of sore throat, fever, swollen glands, muscle weakness, and fatigue in the previous 6 months. Our findings suggest that noninvasive, self-collected oral flocked swabs are feasible and potentially valuable for measuring EBV IgG antibodies and DNA.

Keywords: Diagnostics; Epstein-Barr Virus; Infectious mononucleosis; Nucleic acid; Oral flocked swabs; Serology.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Antibodies, Viral / analysis*
Antigens, Viral / analysis*
Cross-Sectional Studies
DNA, Viral / analysis
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections* / diagnosis
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections* / epidemiology
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections* / immunology
Epstein-Barr Virus Infections* / virology
Female
Herpesvirus 4, Human* / genetics
Herpesvirus 4, Human* / immunology
Humans
Male
Saliva / immunology
Saliva / virology
Specimen Handling / methods*
Students / statistics & numerical data
Universities
Young Adult

Substances

Antibodies, Viral
Antigens, Viral
DNA, Viral