Topic summary
Heterophile
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Heterophile antibody.
Heterophile antibodies are of particular importance in clinical medicine for their use in detecting Epstein-Barr Virus (the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis). EBV infection induces the production of several antibody classes, of which heterophile antibodies are one (others include anti-i, rheumatoid factor and ANA). Heterophile antibodies are IgM antibodies with affinity for sheep and horse red blood cells. They appear during the first week of infectious mononucleosis symptoms, 3–4 weeks after infection and return to undetectable levels 3 to 6 months after infection.