A viral acute disease, accompanied by damage to the mouth, throat, fever, affecting the lymph nodes, and often the liver and spleen, is called mononucleosis. What is it and what causes it?
The main causative agent of this disease is the Epstein-Barr virus. It contains DNA, has tropism (the reaction of cell orientation, the direction of their growth or movement) to B-lymphocytes, and plays an etiological role in the development of Burkitt's lymphoma, some lymphomas in immunocompromised people, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The virus is able to persist (stay) in cells as a latent infection for quite a long time. Its antigenic components have much in common with other herpes viruses. The strains of the virus isolated from patients with mononucleosis of various clinical forms do not have significant differences.
Common angina - most often confused with mononucleosis. What is it - the same thing or just diseases with similar symptoms? How can these diseases be distinguished? Their similarity is always manifested in the general reactions of the human body:fever, fever and other signs. After all, infectious diseases are diseases caused and supported by the presence of a pathogen in the body - a foreign agent. They are very dynamic, the symptomatic picture can change quickly. Therefore, in order to distinguish mononucleosis from tonsillitis, it is important to establish the correct diagnosis, undergo all the necessary studies, which will allow you to choose a competent treatment algorithm. Angina can occur as an independent disease or be a manifestation of another disease. Infectious mononucleosis is characterized not only by an inflammatory process in the throat, but also by a significant increase in the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, pronounced changes in the leukocyte blood count.
It is the increased number of white blood cells that characterizes mononucleosis. What is it and how dangerous is this disease? Its synonyms are also the terms "Pfeifer's disease", "glandular fever", "monocytic angina", "benign lymphoblastosis", "Filatov's disease" and others. Most often, mononucleosis occurs between the ages of 14 and 17, it is often called the disease of students. Most often, the virus is transmitted by airborne droplets; all household items of the patient are also contagious.
Untimely detection and illiterate treatment can lead to serious complications, therefore, if mononucleosis is suspected, a monospot test is mandatory to identify the main pathogen. This blood test can rule out otherdiseases similar to mononucleosis in symptoms (lymphocytic leukemia, oropharyngeal diphtheria, pseudotuberculosis, viral hepatitis, chlamydial pneumonia, rubella, toxoplasmosis, adenovirus infection).
There is no unified classification of forms of clinical manifestation of infectious mononucleosis. But you should know that in addition to the typical forms of the disease, atypical ones can also appear. The latter may be characterized by the absence of one of the main symptoms of the disease (lymphadenopathy, tonsillitis, enlarged liver and spleen), the predominance and severity of one of its manifestations (necrotizing tonsillitis, exanthema), the occurrence of unusual symptoms (appearance of jaundice) or other manifestations that are attributed to complications.
Prolonged presence of the virus in the body leads to the development of a chronic form of the disease. It can be detected only by conducting a series of analyzes of tissue samples for histology. Difficulties lie in the inconstancy of the symptomatic picture, more or less characterizing mononucleosis. What is it - a chronic type of this disease, and how can it be expressed? It can be constant weakness, swollen lymph nodes, severe drowsiness, sore throat, aching joints, frequent colds. There may be fluctuations in body temperature, unexpected nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, various types of pharyngitis, pneumonia. The spleen and liver are noticeably enlarged, the appearance of oral and even genital herpes is characteristic.
The similarity with all kinds of infectious diseases makes it very difficult to establish the correctdiagnosis. The danger of chronic mononucleosis lies in a severely weakened immune system, since the risk of other infections and various complications (swelling of the pharyngeal mucosa, rupture of the spleen, and others) increases. With this form of the disease, it is necessary to most clearly define the criteria that make it possible to identify mononucleosis and conduct the correct course of treatment.
It should be noted that there is a high resistance of antibodies in people who have had mononucleosis. What is it and how is it expressed? Most of those who have been ill develop immunity to the virus. But he continues to remain in the human body, is able to periodically activate and be transmitted to other people.
