Infectious mononucleosis preceding acute myelomonocytic leukemia

The patient discussed in this report had acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML) associated with infectious mononucleosis. Infectious mononucleosis (IM) in association with acute leukemia (AL) has provided clinical investigators an active area of speculation for several years. Nineteen cases are presented for review in Table 1. The present case represents the second case of AMML to be associated with IM. It is the first case of a granulocytic leukemia reported in which active IM is occurring simultaneously with the onset of AL. Also, it represents the first case of associated IM-AL in which the diagnosis of IM is supported by lymphocyte culture data. This may represent a mechanism for additional investigation in future cases.