Acute Infectious Lymphocytosis

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Abstract
An outbreak of acute infectious lymphocytosis (white-cell counts of 26,000 to 93,800) was studied in 27 children at a state school for the mentally retarded. The search for an etiology of the disease included infectious and noninfectious agents. Examinations of stools for parasites, cultures of throat and stool for bacteria, and cultures of throat, stool and blood for viruses were done. An enterovirus, presently untyped, but resembling the Coxsackie A subgroup in physical, chemical and host specificity, was isolated in 21% of the patients' stool specimens. Fourfold rises in neutralizing antibody against this enterovirus occurred in the serums of a significantly greater proportion of patients than in patient contacts. Evidence suggests a causal relation between this agent and lymphocytosis.