Mononucleosis - an acute viral infection, the pathogen that is widely distributed in the environment. The peculiarity of the infection is that many of its transferred discreetly on his feet. Some of the patients (mostly teenagers and young people) Mononucleosis can be severe.

How could I get mononucleosis

Mononucleosis - an infectious disease that is caused by Epstein-Barr virus (herpes virus type 4) and is manifested by inflammation of the nasopharynx, enlarged lymph nodes, liver and spleen, the appearance in the peripheral blood of special large cells - mononuclear cells.

The causative agent of infectious mononucleosis is the Epstein - Barr virus (EBV - surname Barr does not bow, as it belongs to a woman), belonging to the family of herpes viruses. EBV has oncogenic properties - it is able to cause such severe malignant diseases such as Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

EBV infected by contact with patients through airborne droplets or by kissing, through personal items - EBV is contained mainly in the saliva of patients.

Getting in the human body, the infectious agent is deposited on the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx and the rotor, causing inflammation there. Very often the process is attached to a viral bacterial, developing purulent tonsillitis. Then EBV penetrates the lymph nodes and there is inflammation. He introduced into B cells, turning them into specific cells immunoneytralnye appearance - mononuclear cells. Subsequently, the body destroys the mononuclear cells using the T-lymphocytes (killer T cells).

In addition, affected the liver and spleen and sometimes other organs.

The main symptoms of mononucleosis - the beginning of the disease

The incubation period for mononucleosis average is three weeks. After that, the patient has fatigue, weakness, headache Headache   and sore throat. The temperature may be high, but can be raised up to significant numbers, particularly before the evening. On examination, there is a first throat redness and swelling of the tissue, but a few days appear typical white-gray deposits on the tonsils.

Simultaneously increasing nearby lymph nodes, mainly the neck. When probing, they are dense, elastic, non-adjacent tissues and slightly painful.

Characteristic appearance of the patient mononucleosis: the face, especially the eyelids, swelling of lymph congestion associated with lymph node. The skin lesions are often found, are different in nature (point, maculopapular, hemorrhagic, and others), single or multiple. Such precipitation may also be on the oral mucosa.

The liver begins to increase gradually from the early days of the disease. It reaches its maximum size in a week. When probing the liver is firm, slightly painful with a sharpened edge. Impaired liver function is not always, and if broken, it was mostly insignificant. In the normal liver has long, for three to four months after the onset of the disease.

Spleen mononucleosis also increased - this is one of the main and permanent signs of the disease. Spleen increases during the first three to five days. It is well detectable in the left upper quadrant, dense, smooth and slightly painful. In normal spleen comes about a month.

Easy for mononucleosis ends recovery in about two weeks, heavy can last a month or more.

Mononucleosis can be complicated by rupture of the spleen, the addition of a bacterial infection, the development of inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract and respiratory tract.

Diagnosis and treatment

Mononucleosis is easily confused with other diseases. Therefore, to confirm the diagnosis determined by the presence of mononuclear antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus in the blood. Characteristic changes in the blood count of the patient: increasing the number of white blood cells (but may be reduction) and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (30 mm per hour or higher).

No specific treatment exists mononucleosis. The patient must be provided complete rest, bed rest as long as the temperature does not subside. Power must be complete, fortified, are excluded from the diet of fatty, fried, spicy, smoked food, easily digestible carbohydrates. The patient should also drink plenty of fluids.

Appointed symptomatic and restorative treatment, accession bacterial infection - with antibiotics. It held as gargling with various disinfectants.

Mononucleosis - an infectious disease still largely unexplored.

Galina Romanenko