Infectious Mononucleosis and Lyme Disease as Confounding Diagnoses: A Report of 2 Cases

Trever M Koester; Jennifer K Meece; Thomas R Fritsche; Holly M Frost

doi:10.3121/cmr.2018.1419

Infectious Mononucleosis and Lyme Disease as Confounding Diagnoses: A Report of 2 Cases

Clin Med Res. 2018 Dec;16(3-4):66-68. doi: 10.3121/cmr.2018.1419. Epub 2018 Aug 30.

Authors

Trever M Koester^{1

2}, Jennifer K Meece², Thomas R Fritsche^{3

4}, Holly M Frost^{5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, USA.
² Integrated Research and Development Laboratory, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI, USA.
³ Division of Laboratory Medicine, Marshfield Clinic Health System, Marshfield, WI, USA.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA.
⁵ Integrated Research and Development Laboratory, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI, USA holly.frost2@dhha.org.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO, USA.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO, USA.

Abstract

Lyme disease and infectious mononucleosis are common illnesses that share similar clinical presentations. Significant cross-reactivity is known to occur between Lyme and EBV serologic assays complicating the diagnosis. To date, no prior cases of concurrent acute Lyme and EBV infections have been reported. We describe the clinical presentation of two children with confirmed early Lyme disease and features suggestive of infectious mononucleosis, including one case of probable Lyme and EBV co-infection.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Co-infection; Epstein-Barr virus; Infectious mononucleosis; Lyme disease.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Humans
Infectious Mononucleosis / diagnosis*
Infectious Mononucleosis / immunology
Lyme Disease / diagnosis*
Lyme Disease / immunology
Male