To kiss or not to kiss
A kiss may be more than just a kiss: It may be the transmission of the illness mononucleosis.
Irene Tello, nurse at the Bear River Valley Hospital, said she only has one piece of advice to help students prevent getting mono.
“Avoid kissing,” she said. “It’s as easy as that.”
Mononucleosis, frequently referred to as mono, is an infection often caused by the Epstein-Barr virus.
An article written by Mark D. Aronson and Paul G. Auwaerter in the academic health journal “UpToDate” states mono is primarily spread through the passage of saliva and is characterized by a triad of fever, pharyngitis and swollen lymph nodes.
Tello said mono can be seen in any age group but is frequently seen in one in particular.
“It seems to be more prevalent with teenagers and young adults,” Tello said.
Aronson and Aurwaerter report adolescents or young adults, most commonly ages 15 to 24, develop symptoms with a higher frequency, ranging from 50 to 70 percent.
According to Aronson and Auwaerter, mono was initially described as Drusenfieber or glandular fever, but the term “infectious mononucleosis” was used later to describe six college students with the illness caused by swollen lymph nodes and atypical mononuclear cells in the blood.
Penny Marshall, nurse at the Bear River Valley Hospital, said college students and other young adults are the prime victims of mono due to the lifestyle and season they attend school in.
“You see mono more in the winter because individuals tend to stay in more enclosed areas and do not get as much fresh air as they need,” Marshall said. “You see it in college students because it is caused by close contact with oral secretions of an infected person. Other words, it is caused by kissing, sharing food or drinks, and from being coughed or sneezed upon.”
Jessie Perry, junior majoring in elementary education, said she experienced mono. Aside from being out of school for a week and feeling ill for nearly three weeks, Perry said the worst part was the way her body felt while fighting the virus.
“The worst part for me was the sore throat,” Perry said. “It got to the point where it hurt so bad that I couldn’t even drink water. I could eat hardly anything and I slept for a week straight.”
Aronson and Auwaerter reported that a review of 500 patients with mono found lymphadenopathy present in all patients, fever was found in 98 percent and pharyngitis in 85 percent. Also, fatigue was found to be very persistent and severe in many cases.
Perry said treatment for mono is very miserable. She was told by two different doctors, she said, to just endure the pain.
“Two different doctors told me there was nothing they could do about it,” Perry said. “I was told to take pain killers and deal with it, but Advil and Tylenol did not do anything for me, so I just had to get through it.”
Tello said the only way to prevent mono is constant supportive care.
“Drugs are recommended for the treatment of fever or for a sore throat,” Tello said. “But most important when fighting mono is to drink a lot of fluids and to eat nutritiously. It is also very important to get a good amount of sleep.”
Preventing mono can be a challenge, especially in a college environment. Carlee Merrell, Perry’s roommate, said she and her other roommates tried to keep things as clean as they could in their apartment.
“We always washed our hands and never used each other’s cups,” Merrell, freshman majoring in elementary education, said. “If there was any question if the dish was clean, we washed it.”
Aronson and Auwaerter reported a study conducted among college students showed that the roommates of patients with symptoms of mono were no more likely to develop the clinical illness than other college students who did not have the direct connection to the disease.
Perry said she and her roommates were very careful not to transfer the illness.
“We made sure I didn’t share any food,” Perry said. “I would eat out of my own ice cream container and made sure nobody else had any. It’s not airborne, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.”
Marshall said she agreed with Tello that prevention of mono can be very simple.
“No kissing,” she said. “Just constantly keep arms length away from one another.”