Surveillance of infectious mononucleosis cases by use of existing data from state laboratories

In a pilot study to explore the feasibility of surveillance of cases of infectious mononucleosis, data were collected on 8,258 positive specimens. These specimens had been submitted to six State laboratories--Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin--during a 2-year period. April 1974-March 1976. Case reporting varied in completeness and geographic coverage. Data concerning case occurrence, by age, sex, and race of patients and month of specimen collection, confirmed previous observations regarding the descriptive epidemiology of the disease. The results indicated that the public health usefulness of extensive surveillance of infections mononucleosis laboratory tests is limited.