Gerpe NMF, et al. - Given that most children at age 3 are seropositive in Argentina, and there is an increased association between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and lymphoma in children under 10 years old, researchers aimed at describing EBV infection at the site of entry and reactivation of viral infection -the tonsils- so that the mechanism of viral persistence in pediatric patients can be better understood. In this cohort of 54 patients, EBV type 1 was prevalent, mostly in the youngest. Low viral load in pediatric tonsils characterized EBV infection. Primary infected patients exhibit almost absence of full viral latency pattern, unlike infectious mononucleosis. Healthy carriers almost exclusively exhibit full latency pattern. Lytic cycle antigens were detected in few cases; it may be a strategy to avoid immune system. Possibly these characteristics may be due the lack of symptoms in primary infection.