Abstract: Objective　To observe the scatter plot of atypical lymphocyte in children with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, and to investigate their change and clinical significance in the disease.  Methods　The infected children treated in Children′s Hospital of Fudan University from January to April in 2010 were enrolled. According to the infection of EBV and the typical scatter plot, the children were classified. The relation of the groups were observed.  Results　There were 102 children aged 0 to 11 years old in the study. The anti-EBV antibody positive group included 45 cases, and the scatter plot of atypical lymphocyte group included 45 cases. Both anti-EBV antibody positive and scatter plot of atypical lymphocyte group included 31 cases. Through the chi-square test, the difference of the anti-EBV antibody positive rate between children who had atypical lymphocyte and children who had normal peripheral blood cells was detected (P<0.01).  Conclusions　The scatter plot in hematology analyzer for the detection of atypical lymphocyte has important secondary significance when diagnosing the acute EBV infection.

Key words: Epstein-Barr virus, Atypical lymphocyte, Scatter plot