Did you know you can fall ill because of kissing?
No matter how unusual it sounds, but the kissing disease, or the so-called mononucleosis, can have dangerous consequences.
Mononucleosis, or the “kissing disease”, is most common among young people because they like to kiss with several different partners. (jlp)
Serious symptoms because of a single kiss
Can you imagine that you suddenly have a high temperature, headache, sore throat, swollen lymph glands and muscle pains? Or in other words, can you imagine that you have all the aforementioned because of a single kiss that caused the disease called mononucleosis. The disease is transmitted from one person to another in saliva, in most cases by kissing. It’s caused by the Epstein-Barr virus present in every person’s saliva one way or another in a certain time in life. It’s also spread by drinking from the same glass and using the same cutlery, but it’s most common among teenagers who kiss a lot with several different partners. The disease doesn’t develop equally in everyone, meaning that the symptoms are more obvious in some people and less in others, and you can only contract it once in your life. Experts warn that the infected person can spread it through saliva for the whole year and that he or she carries it his or her body the whole life, but if the person is fortunate, the virus is secreted from the body through saliva.
It’s transmitted through saliva by kissing as well as drinking from the same glass. (jlp)
Treatment lasts up to several weeks
The incubation period lasts between four and sex weeks, and the infected don’t even know they’ve contracted the disease because the symptoms are very similar to flu. The highest risk of spreading the virus is when you have a high temperature, which is somewhat odd because you don’t exactly run around looking for a person to kiss at that time. The doctor detects the symptoms on the basis of blood samples and high leukocyte count and makes the final diagnosis on the basis of a special monospot test that confirms it’s mononucleosis. Unfortunately, there is no concrete and effective drug. The advice of the doctor is to rest, drink plenty of fluids and take the drugs to treat other symptoms. As already said, the disease is very similar to flu and experts say it’s impossible to catch it again after the first infection.
The symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of flu. (jlp)
Use caution when taking drugs
People under 19 aren’t advised to take aspirin during the disease because it can cause serious complications and even the so-called Reye’s syndrome, that is, the combination of liver diseases and non-inflammatory encephalopathy. This is a combination of different disorders that are most often linked to previous viral infections. Therefore, similar to flu. It’s also an interesting fact that children up to the age 5 easily recover from mononucleosis and their parents don’t even know that it’s this disease because children only have a mild cold. In young people under the age of 25, the symptoms usually aren’t very obvious as well. However, things are different if you contract the disease after the age of 30 because you recover from it more slowly and can have serious complications if you don’t rest and follow your doctor’s instructions during the infection. In the worst case, you can have respiratory problems, infection of the heart muscle and complications related to the nervous system.
It can be very dangerous if a person above the age of 30 contract the disease because the person can’t be treated properly. (jlp)
How to protect yourself?
There’s no rule because you can never tell that the person you kiss is infected. According to this logic, the best protection is a steady partner, without any chance of a third person involved in your relationship. However, if one of you contracts the infection, you both need to see the doctor as there’s a high risk that the disease has been transmitted to your body with a single kiss.
