Physicians at The Center see many chronically ill patients with the complaint of "fatigue." If the physical, history and preliminary laboratory tests (e.g., "atypical lymphocytes" on the WBC differential) warrant, the physician will order antibody liters for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (EBWCA-IgG) and early antigen (EBV EA-IgG). Elevated. EBV EA-IgG anti-bodies suggest recent or chronic-active infection and become undetectable weeks to months after onset. Elevated EBV-IgG antibodies suggest a past infection.

In the patient population treated at The Center, elevated EBV antibody titer is a common finding. During a recent 33 day period, 32 patients seen at The Center had serological evidence of current, recent or past infection with EBV (Table 1).