Heterophile antibodies in Japanese patients with various diseases including infectious mononucleosis

Sera of Japanese patients with various diseases including patients with lympho-proliferative disease similar to infectious mononucleosis (IM) were studied for the presence of heterophile antibodies. Antibodies to sheep erythrocytes were demonstrated in 9 of 19 such patients whereas similar antibodies were found only in 28 of 3570 (0.8%) patients with various other diseases. Adsorption studies revealed that these antibodies in patients with IM-like syndrome are of Hangantziu-Deicher or Forssman nature. On the other hand, Paul-Bunnell antibody characteristic for IM in Caucasians was not demonstrated in Japanese suffering from IM-like syndrome.