Mononucleosis Essay -- Medical Disease Health Herpes Biology Essays

Mononucleosis Mononucleosis is a disease caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a member of the herpes family. The herpes family also includes viruses that cause cold sores, chicken pox, genital herpes, and birth defects (7). Mono, short for mononucleosis (3) "gets its name from the fact that it causes a person's white blood cells to become distorted, so that they have only one nucleus (becoming mononuclear) instead of the usual divided nucleus.'; (3) The first accounts of mono are credited to Filatov and Pfeiffer who around the end of the nineteenth century described and illness known as Drusenfieber or glandular fever which occurred in family outbreaks. However, the establishment of mono is given to Sprunt and Evans. In 1921 they pointed out the mononuclear lymphocytosis that was present in each patient they treated. Two years later, Downey and McKinaly provided more details of the lymphocytes as a marker that led to the disease. (6) The idea of EBV being connected to mono came about in 1958 by Burkitt. There were some cases in Africa of young children having tumors in their jaw and dying even when the tumor was removed. He later found out that the patients were coming from areas highly infested with mosquitoes, so they figured that the mosquitoes were related. The mosquitoes were carrying a virus in the herpes family, which was later called Epstein-Barr virus. This virus was later revealed to be linked with mono. (6) Anyone can get mono but it is most common in teens and young adults, mostly high school and college students. Children who are infected with EBV when they are really young are able to manufacture antibodies against the virus. If a person's body does not have EBV already they will most likely contract the virus later in their life and be able to build these antibodies. Only a small amount of teens and young adults actually get mono because they have already been exposed to EBV at a younger age. (7) Mono usually occurs in females between the ages of 15 to 16 years, and males between the ages of 18 to 23 years (4). People call it the "kissing disease'; due to the fact that it is spread through close contact and saliva (2). Drinking after someone, or eating after him or her can also contract mono (2). In the United States more than 100,000 cases of mono are diagnosed each year (7). At colleges 300 to 1500 out of 100,00... ... ways to treat it without leading to death. Works Cited 1. Beers, MD Mark H., and Robert Berkow, MD, ed. The Merck Manual Of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th ed. Whitehouse Station, New Jersey: Merck Research Laboratories, 1999. 2. Cassidy, Jo. "What's in a Name? Mononucleosis.'; Current Health 17: 9 (1990): 14-15. 3. Dinamoor, Robert S. "When Mono Attacks Take It Lying Down.'; Current Health 20: 9 (1993): 30-31. 4. Dreher, Nancy. "What You Need To Know about Mono.'; Current Health 23: 3 (1997): 28-29. 5. Kaye, Kenneth M., and Elliot Kieff. "Epstein-Barr Virus Infection and Infectious Mononucleosis.'; Infectious Diseases, 2nd ed. Ed. John G. Barlett, MD, Neil R. Blacklow, MD, and Sherwood L. Gorback, MD. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. 1646-1650. 6. Schooley, Robert T. "Epstein-Barr Virus (Infectious Mononucleosis).'; Ed. John E. Bennett, MD, Raphael Dolin, MD, and Gerald L. Mandell, MD. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 4th ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1995. 1364-1373. 7. Silverstein, Alvin, Virginia Silverstein, and Robert Silverstein. Mononucleosis. Hillside, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1994.