Test Overview
Latex Agglutination
Detection of heterophile antibodies related to infectious mononucleosis.
Negative
* Reference ranges may change over time. Please refer to the original patient report when evaluating results.
Correlation with clinical findings is imperative since false positive and negative results have been reported. About 10% of the adult population with infectious mononucleosis will not develop heterophile antibodies. The most common cause of heterophile-negative infectious mononucleosis in most populations is cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The illness may be attributed to CMV by showing serologic evidence of acute infection. Failure to develop heterophile antibodies occurs even more frequently in children. In these instances Epstein-Barr virus antibodies may occur. Less than 2% false positives have been reported with Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, acute lymphocytic leukemia, infectious hepatitis and pancreatic carcinoma. The simultaneous occurrence of infectious mononucleosis and hepatitis has been reported.
Test Details
8 hours
- POC MONO
- Mononucleosis Test
- Infectious Mononucleosis Screen
- Mono
- Mononucleosis Heterophile Test
- Monospot Test
- INFECTIOUS MONO SCREEN, STAT
- INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS SCN
- SMONO
- POC INFECTIOUS MONO SCREEN
- POC MONO SCREEN
STAT requests for this test will be performed on a STAT basis (supervisory staff approval is not required) in the Chemistry Laboratory (order code SMONO).
Specimen Requirements
Collect specimen in SST tube. Centrifuge, aliquot serum into a plastic vial and freeze.
Samples received in the Immunology laboratory after 48 hours and not centrifuged, aliquoted and frozen.
Additional Information
The correlation between this method and the classic tube heterophile method is quite good, although the sensitivity of this method is slightly greater than that of the older method. Since it has been shown that antibody titers do NOT correlate with the severity or stage of the disease, nor the degree of lymphocytosis, titers are not performed. The infectious mononucleosis heterophile antibody appears in the serum of patients by the sixth to tenth day of illness. Highest titers are usually found in the second to third week. Antibody levels may remain detectable for as little as one week or may persist up to a year; usual persistence is 4-8 weeks. This agglutination procedure specifically detects I.M. heterophile antibody without cross reacting in the presence of Forssman heterophile or the antibodies associated with serum sickness at usual levels found in the U.S. population.