1. Is infectious mononucleosis contagious? Is / is infectious mononucleosis an infectious disease?
Infectious mononucleosis (infectious mononucleosis) (referred to as mono) is an acute monocyte-macrophage system proliferative disease caused by EBV infection, with a certain degree of contagiousness, is an infectious disease, the source of infection is mainly carriers and patients, infected through close contact with the nose and mouth, can also be transmitted through droplets and blood transfusions. It is common in children and adolescents.
2.What is abnormal lymphocyte (abnormal gonorrhea)?
Abnormal lymphocyte is a kind of lymphocyte with different morphology. Usually under the stimulation of viruses, drugs or certain allergens, lymphocytes can undergo some changes, such as primitive cellularity and infantile cellularity (commonly known as “revertant phenomenon”). Under the microscope, we can see that the lymphocytes are larger in size, the nucleus is larger, the cell pulp is darker, and vacuoles appear.
This is different from the normal lymphocyte morphology and is called anisocytic lymphocytes. In the normal state, the human body has no more than 2.0% heterogeneous lymphocytes. Certain viral infections, such as EBV, cytomegalovirus, rubella virus, and hepatitis virus, can be seen to increase lymphocytes and have varying numbers of heterogeneous lymphocytes. Infectious mononucleosis caused by EBV infection is particularly notable, with heterogeneous lymphocytes often exceeding 10%.
3. What is the significance of EBV-DNA? What if it is still high at the time of follow-up?
Peripheral blood EBV-DNA is a highly sensitive and specific test for the presence of EBV infection and can be used for early diagnosis when the antibody response is not clear. EBV-DNA can often be detected within 3 weeks of the acute phase in patients with infectious mononucleosis. After 3 weeks, EBV-DNA is generally undetectable in the patient’s serum or plasma, but low levels of EBV-DNA can still be detected in whole blood specimens. If, at the time of follow-up, there is an increase in serum or plasma after normalization, this may be a cause for concern, possibly due to the appearance of EBV-associated tumors or reinfection with EBV, etc. If high levels of EBV-DNA are consistently present in the serum or plasma, chronic EBV infection or EBV-associated phagocytic syndrome may be present.
4.What is the effect of EBV infection on my child?
Most EBV infections do not affect children very much. Children often have no obvious symptoms or mild symptoms, which may include malaise, headache, runny nose, fever, and other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. A small number of children with EBV infection can develop typical leaflet manifestations such as persistent fever, pharyngitis, enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged liver and spleen, swollen eyelids, and skin rash.
Some patients may develop serious complications such as acute laryngeal obstruction, hepatitis, myocarditis, encephalitis meningitis, and even phagocytic syndrome, which require aggressive treatment. Children with immunodeficiencies who are infected with EBV can often develop fatal mononucleosis, secondary hypo- or no immunoglobulinemia, malignant polyclonal-derived lymphoma, and reoccurrence, with a mortality rate of up to 60%.