Table 2.

Summary of viral and clinical factors associated with EBV serostatus in the literature

Risk factor for EBV serostatus	Summary of results
CMV infection	Positive correlation between EBV and CMV serostatus: 10 studies [31,35,48,60,66,83-87]
	Negative association: 1 study [62]
	No association: 2 studies [88,89]
KSHV infection	Positive correlation between EBV and KSHV: 1 study [41]
HTLV infection	Positive correlation between EBV and HTLV serostatus: 1 study [77]
HSV-1 infection	Positive correlation between EBV and HSV-1 serostatus: 1 study [83]
Toxoplasmosis infection	No association: 1 study [89]
Rubella infection	No association: 1 study [89]
Syphilis	No association: 1 study [89]
Anti-IFN-gamma autoantibodies	No association: 1 study [89]
HIV infection	HIV infection
	Positive correlation between EBV and HIV status: 2 studies [8,17]
	No association: 1 study [90]
	CD4 count
	No association: 2 studies [54,57]
	Mother’s low CD4 percentage was associated with EBV seropositivity: 1 study [8]
	Viral load
	Mother’s higher viral load was associated with being EBV seropositive: 1 study [8]
Sensitised to IgE (allergy testing)	EBV-seronegative individuals had higher odds of ≥1 positive specific IgE test: 1 study [52]
	No association: 1 study [24]
Maternal family history of atopy	No association: 1 study [71]
Positive skin prick tests	EBV-seronegative individuals had higher odds of ≥1 skin prick test: 1 study [52]
Breastfed	Breastfeeding
	No association: 1 study [20]
	Duration of being breastfed
	No association with duration of being breastfed: 4 studies [8,25,66,71]
Respiratory or gastrointestinal tract infections in first year of life	No association: 1 study [71]
History of tonsillectomy	More common among EBV seronegative individuals: 1 study [73]

CMV – cytomegalovirus, EBV – Epstein-Barr virus, HIV – human immunodeficiency virus, HSV – herpes simplex virus, HTLV – human T-cell lymphotrophic virus, IFN – interferon, IgE – immunoglobulin E, KSHV – Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus