Know anyone who had mononucleosis this winter or spring?

[pnwmom]

This small, preliminary study from Wuhan found Epstein Barr virus in half of its 67 covid patients.

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-21580/v1

Results 67 COVID-19 patients were included in our study. The median age was 37 years, with 35 (52.2%) females. Among these COVID-19 patients, 37 (55.2%) patients were seropositive for EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) IgM antibody. EBV seropositive COVID-19 patients had a 3.09-fold risk of having a fever symptom than EBV seronegative (95%CI, 1.11-8.56; P=0.03). C-reactive protein (CRP) (P=0.02) and the aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P=0.04) in EBV seropositive COVID-19 patients were higher than that in EBV seronegative patients. EB seropositive patients had a higher portion of corticosteroid use than the EB seronegative patients (P=0.03).

Conclusions EBV acute infection was found in COVID-19 patients. EBV seropositivity was associated with fever and increased inflammation. EBV reactivation may affected the treatment of COVID-19.

[JCMach1]

1. Fall 2018 my 8yo had a really weird case

Just where the heck did he get it?

Water fountain?

Anyway,

He had high fevers for a whole month (like 101-103). He was just lucky (for school sake) a good portion of it was Thanksgiving-Xmas break.

[Laffy Kat]

2. EBV is worrisome to me.

My youngest (now 23) had it the summer between junior high and high school. I have no idea where he got his, either. He is such a germaphobe and has always been a fastidious hand-washer. Unfortunately, no dating in his life during that time. It always puzzled me. Anyway, EBV can set you up for all kinds of ugly things later in life. My ex (his dad) had EBV before we met and he went on to get Hodgkin's lymphoma (he was completely cured in less than three months). My son had a classmate with EBV a couple of years later who went on to get Burkitt's lymphoma, which is also very curable. Still, I keep an eagle-eye out on his health w/o letting him know, LOL.

[JCMach1]

3. It's a serious thing... was a nightmare for a whole month feeling powerless over fever

He took so many meds for fever, he is now allergic to Tylenol. He breaks out into hives.

[Laffy Kat]

7. Oh, I'm so sorry.

I feel like l can endure anything except my kids being sick. You do, indeed, feel powerless and would do anything to trade places with them.

[JCMach1]

10. exactly, and of course they also don't just jump on an EBV diagnosis

was relieved actually... fever of unknown origin can have some devastating causes...


They had do the blood serum test for EBV.

[highplainsdem]

4. EBV is extremely common - about 90% of adults have antibodies from it.

https://www.cdc.gov/epstein-barr/about-ebv.html

Many people become infected with EBV in childhood. EBV infections in children usually do not cause symptoms, or the symptoms are not distinguishable from other mild, brief childhood illnesses. People who get symptoms from EBV infection, usually teenagers or adults, get better in two to four weeks. However, some people may feel fatigued for several weeks or even months.

After you get an EBV infection, the virus becomes latent (inactive) in your body. In some cases, the virus may reactivate. This does not always cause symptoms, but people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop symptoms if EBV reactivates.

-snip-

Diagnosing EBV infection can be challenging because the symptoms are similar to other illnesses. EBV infection can be confirmed with a blood test that detects antibodies. About nine out of ten of adults have antibodies that show that they have a current or past EBV infection.

[pnwmom]

5. Yes, and most people get it as children.

I know a 25 year old who got very sick with it this spring -- much more sick than my sister when she was in high school. The 25 year old had a swollen liver and other unusual symptoms.

So I'm wondering if he could also have had undiagnosed covid, because no one was testing for that at the time. (At first the doctor only tested him for strep throat. Then, when he didn't get better, the doctor finally did an EPV test.)

[Laffy Kat]

6. Sounds possible.

A doctor I work is almost certain he and his wife had COVID back in late January after returning from Hawaii.

Usually, EBV causes an enlarged spleen; I have not heard about swollen livers, but COVID can cause inflammation in multiple organs, so that is another suspicious symptom for Corona.

[pnwmom]

9. Right. He had both an enlarged spleen and an enlarged liver.

It sounds to me from another article about that study that a covid infection might reactivate a preexisting EPV infection. So I'm wondering if he had a mild mono years ago, got covid, and the mono came back. He did have a positive test for mono but of course they didn't test him for Covid.

[dawg day]

8. I think EBV antibodies are in most people

... most never had mono, fought it off. However, anecdotally, people with MS, chronic fatigue, or fibromyalgia often had a bad mono in adolescence.

[MFM008]

11. My brother had it bad

In the 70s.
I tested positive for it to but i never
got as sick as he did. I never even noticed
I had it.
It flattened him.