Mononucleosis 3

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"season," although authorities in colleges and schools, where the disease has been well studied, report that they see most patients in the fall and early spring. Epidemics do not occur, but doctors have reported clustering of cases. Transmission: EBV, the virus that causes most cases of mononucleosis, infects and reproduces in the salivary glands. It also infects white blood cells called B cells. Direct contact with virus-infected saliva, such as through kissing, can transmit the virus and result in mononucleosis. Someone with mononucleosis, however, does not need to be isolated. Household members or college roommates have only a slight risk of being infected unless they come into direct contact with the patient's saliva. A person is infectious several days before symptoms appear and for some time after acute infection. No one knows how long this period of infectiousness lasts, although the virus can be found routinely in the saliva of most people with mononucleosis for at least six ...

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in 20 percent. Tonsillitis, difficulty in swallowing, and bleeding gums may accompany these symptoms. Rarely, jaundice or a rash that lasts one or two days is present. In young children and older adults (more than 35 years old), mononucleosis may be difficult to diagnose because the typical mononucleosis symptoms are not present. A doctor may suspect mononucleosis in older adults, however, if the patient has had a high fever for at least a week, has an enlarged liver, has abnormal liver function studies, or has neurological symptoms. In children, EBV infection can produce a different picture. A child may have a mild sore throat or tonsillitis or have no symptoms at all, and the illness ...

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