OT: Kissing disease still a curse for the young and the feverish

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Kissing disease still a curse for the young and the feverish

www.theage.com.au/national/kissing-disease-still-a-curse-for-the-young-and-the-f\

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JULES SWEENEY was struck down by illness at the end of the summer holidays.

She felt exhausted, the glands in her neck were swollen, and she had a

temperature, a sore throat and was vomiting.

A blood test confirming glandular fever threw the 16-year-old Loreto

Mandeville Hall student into a panic about school work. Her older sister had

had the illness in year 9 and had lost the entire school year.

" I was really stressed about it, " the teenager said. She missed all of the

first term, sleeping all day, too fatigued to look at the work her teachers

emailed to her.

Sweeney was one of four year 11 students at her school to have glandular

fever in first term — and she is one of hundreds of n teenagers

every year whose studies are severely disrupted by it.

Glandular fever, or " infectious mononucleosis " , is caused by the

Epstein-Barr virus, which also causes several rare cancers. Known as " the

kissing disease " because it is spread by saliva, it can also be spread by

sharing items such as water bottles, cups, cigarettes.

According to Dr Jim Buttery, an infectious diseases physician at the Royal

Children's Hospital and immunisation researcher at the Murdoch Children's

Research Institute, every year thousands of n teenagers get

glandular fever. But most have mild symptoms, with only hundreds suffering

severely enough to keep them out of school for weeks.

Teenagers are conspicuous targets of the disease because they get it in the

last years of high school, which has consequences for their schooling.

But Dr Buttery said that about half of Australian five-year-olds will

already have been infected with the virus, though they will have had

symptoms so mild as to pass unnoticed, and close to 70% of teenagers will

already be immune to the disease.

" You rarely get people in their 30s with it, " he said. " By young adulthood,

almost 95% of the population will have come in contact with it. "

Because glandular fever is not a notifiable disease, there are no state-wide

figures kept on it.

The head of University High's senior school, , said glandular

fever had caused some of his students to miss as much as three months of

school, which meant they had had to apply for special consideration from the

n Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC).

Each year, about 1700 students seek special consideration from VTAC, but

there are no records of the illnesses or other reasons for their

applications.

Meanwhile, a vaccine against the disease is being developed in Belgium by Dr

Etienne Sokal, of the Catholic University of Louvain. The vaccine targets a

protein that enables the virus to enter immune system cells. In its first

clinical trial, involving 181 young people, it proved effective in 80% of

cases.

According to Professor Denis Moss of the Queensland Institute of Medical

Research, this research could yield a vaccine within five years.

" A vaccine to prevent these symptoms is worthwhile since it tends to strike

students at an important time in their lives, when they are studying for

exams either at university or at high school. "

Wood, year 12 co-ordinator at the all-boys Melbourne High School, said

he thought boys were more susceptible to the disease. His school had six

cases last year in year 12, but only one so far this year.

At University High, which has about 10 cases a year, thought

girls were more likely to contract it.

According to Dr Harari, who treats teenagers with glandular fever at

the Royal Children's Hospital and in his private practice, the disease does

not affect one sex more than the other.

In the worst cases, teenagers are admitted to hospital to be given fluids

intravenously because their throats are too sore for them to be able to eat

or drink.

" The vast majority are best treated at home — with paracetemol and chicken

soup, " he said.

Fever facts

â–  Caused by: Epstein-Barr virus. This virus also causes nasopharyngeal

carcinoma, a tumour of the nasal passages and throat most common in men in

South-East Asia. Can also cause cancers in transplant patients.

â–  Spread: In saliva droplets. Efficiently transmitted by kissing, but

schools also warn against drink-bottle sharing.

â–  Diagnosed: By blood test.

â–  Symptoms: Swollen lymph glands, swollen liver or spleen, sore throat,

fever, tiredness, aches and pains, night sweats.

â–  Treatment: Bed rest, fluids.

â–  Research: A US study says that only 30-40% of adolescents infected with

the virus will develop severe symptoms.