Effects of Initial Periodontal Therapy on the Prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus DNA and <i>Porphyromonas gingivalis</i> in Japanese Chronic Periodontitis Patients

Abstract

Patient education, training in oral hygiene, control of risk factors, removal of supra and subgingival bacterial plaque, scaling and root planing (SRP) are contents of implementation of initial periodontal therapy (IPT) (1, 2) . EBV is one of the most prevalent viruses in the world. It is estimated that over 90% of adults are EBV seropositive (3, 4) . Primary infections of infants with EBV are usually asymptomatic, but the infection of adolescence and young adult with EBV causes infectious mononucleosis, a selflimiting, lymphoproliferative disease. Spread within families is thought to be a common route of EBV transmission by salivary contact. The virus infects first within oropharyngeal epithelium, and later primarily within B lymphocytes are invaded via CD21 receptors, where it establishes a lifelong latent infection (5 -9) . EBV has been linked to the development of several malignant tumors, including Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease certain forms of Tcell lymphoma, lymphoproliferative disease in Correspondence to：