CAUSES OF GLANDULAR FEVER

Q AI have been diagnosed with glandular fever, is it true that this is caused by kissing? Glandular fever is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). EBV is most often spread through the saliva of someone who carries the infection. Typically EBV doesn’t cause glandular fever symptoms when it is caught as a young child, but in teenagers and adults it can cause sore throat, swollen nodes in your neck, fever, tiredness and muscle aches.

It can be spread through:

■ kissing – glandular fever is sometimes referred to as the “kissing disease”

■ sharing food and drinks

■ sharing toothbrushes

■ exposure to coughs and sneezes

Small children may be infected by chewing toys that have been contaminated with the virus.

When you come into contact with infected saliva, the virus can infect the cells on the lining of your throat. The infection is then passed into your white blood cells before spreading through the lymphatic system. This is a series of glands (nodes) found throughout your body that allows many of the cells that your immune system needs to travel around the body.

After the infection has passed, people develop lifelong immunity to the virus and most will not develop symptoms again. Many people are first exposed to

EBV during childhood when the infection causes few symptoms and often goes unrecognised before it passes. Young adults may be most at risk of the symptoms of glandular fever because they might not have been exposed to the virus when they were younger, and the infection tends to produce more severe symptoms when you are older.

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