Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is carried by almost all adults, mostly without clinical manifestations. Latent virus infection of B lymphocytes induces activation and proliferation that can be demonstrated in vitro. In healthy individuals, generation of EBV induced malignant proliferation is avoided by continuous immunological surveillance. The proliferation inducing set of the virally encoded genes is expressed exclusively in B cells in a defined differentiation window. It comprises nine EBV encoded nuclear proteins, EBNA 1–6, and three cell membrane associated proteins, LMP-1, 2A and 2B, designated as latency Type III. Outside this window the expression of the viral genes is limited. Healthy carriers harbor a low number of B lymphocytes in which the viral genome is either silent or expresses one virally encoded protein, EBNA-1, latency Type I. In addition, EBV genome carrying B cells can lack either EBNA-2 or LMP-1, latency Type IIa or Type IIb respectively. These cells have no inherent proliferation capacity. Detection of both EBNA-2 and LMP-1 can identify B cells with growth potential. We devised therefore a method for their simultaneous detection in cytospin deposited cell populations. Simultaneous detection of EBNA-2 and LMP-1 was reported earlier in tissues derived from infectious mononucleosis (IM), postransplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and from “humanized” mice infected with EBV.