Acute infectious lymphocytosis: phenotype of the proliferating cell

A case of acute infectious lymphocytosis in an otherwise healthy 2-year-old child is reported. Marker analysis of the expanded blood lymphocytes showed that they were predominantly T cells and that there was a considerable increase in the helper/inducer phenotype (OKT4+) population. However, the lymphocyte response to polyclonal T-cell activators was low. This is the first report on T-cell subset distribution in acute infectious lymphocytosis.