Prevalence of EBV and CMV in tonsils among patients with recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy in Greece

Abstract number: P916

Tigiroglou E., Klapsa D., Damani A., Liakopoulos A., Skoulakis C., Petinaki E.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of EBV and CMV in tonsils between patients with recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy.

Methods: A total of 194 patients, who underwent a total or partial tonsillectomy were included. The patients were categorised into two groups: a recurrent tonsillitis group (Group I, 105 patients) and a tonsillar hypertrophy group (Group II, 89 patients). The tonsillar tissues extracted during surgery were immediately transferred in sterile dry containers, and they were shipped to the laboratory immediately. Pieces of tonsillar tissue from each patient were chosen for simultaneous extraction of DNA, using the commercial kits (Invitrogen) according to manufacturers instructions. The detection of EBV and CMV was performed by Real-time PCR (Nanogen Advanced Diagnostics). The association between the two disease group (recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy) was tested using the Fisher's exact test. A result was considered significant when P < 0.05.

Results: Sixty two specimens were found to be positive for the presence of EBV-DNA (32.98%). No significant difference was found concerning the presence of EBV-DNA between the two groups studied; 32.91% in patients with recurrent tonsillitis versus 26.47% in patients with tonsillar hypertrophy. On the other hand, CMV was not detected in any specimen.

Conclusions: The high prevalence of EBV among patients with recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy verify that the tonsils are a potential reservoir for EBV infections.