Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-genome containing cases of Hodgkin's disease (HD) are known to express latent membrane protein (LMP) of EBV but no EBV nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA2). We investigated 35 cases of HD for the presence of EBV genome sequences to know whether EBNA2 coding region is deleted in HD. 27 cases had general EBV sequences, none had evidence of a deletion of EBNA2. 26 cases turned out to harbour EBV type 1, one case had EBV type 2. The absence of EBNA2 protein expression in HD can not be explained by a deletion of EBNA2 coding region. EBV type 1 is the prevalent subtype of EBV in our series of HD.