Incubation period and symptoms | Pfeiffersches glandular fever – How contagious is it really?

Incubation period and symptoms

The acute illness at the Pfeifferschen glandular fever lasts differently long. Usually the typical flu-like symptoms disappear after a few weeks, but the disease can also be longer and show symptoms for up to a year. The incubation period is the time between infection with a pathogen and the onset of the disease.

During this time, the viruses multiply in human cells. Via the bloodstream, they then enter the lymphatic tissue (tonsils, lymph nodes, spleen) and other organs and then cause the typical symptoms of the disease. The incubation period of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is particularly long and lasts about two to six weeks, but in some cases the first symptoms may appear only after two months.

However, this time is usually difficult to define, since there are often no or only mild symptoms and it is usually not clear when the infection with the pathogen occurred. During this so-called incubation period before the appearance of symptoms, Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is already contagious, since the viruses already multiply in the body and are contained in the saliva of the sick person. Frequently Pfeiffer’s glandular fever manifests itself with high and quite changeable fever attacks, but it can also come under certain circumstances only to a general fatigue, increased fatigue and sore throat, which is then often misdiagnosed by doctors as a mild cold.

In most cases, the symptoms of an Epstein-Barr infection are mild, and there may be no symptoms at all. Many patients therefore often do not know that they have already had Pfeiffer’s glandular fever. The Epstein-Barr virus is also highly contagious even before the first symptoms appear, since it multiplies and survives mainly in certain saliva cells in the mouth and throat area.

Therefore, transmission is primarily via the exchange of saliva. In addition, it multiplies in a certain type of white blood cells.Like actually all herpes viruses that can infect humans, the virus that causes the Pfeiffer’s glandular fever remains present in the human body for a lifetime. It cannot therefore be completely removed from the body.

It is therefore difficult to say how long a person is contagious with the Epstein-Barr virus for his fellow human beings. It can be said with certainty that especially first-time infected persons are particularly contagious during the incubation period and in the first months after the illness. Therefore, prophylaxis is important here in order to contain the spread of the virus.

This includes above all the avoidance of kisses and close cuddling. Once infected with the virus, it can always happen that it reactivates itself and is excreted again via saliva, as the virus remains in the body for a lifetime. This mechanism plays a role especially in the transmission of the virus from parents to small children or to infants.

A disease with the Pfeiffer’s glandular fever occurs in most cases only once in a lifetime, but one can always be contagious for other people. It is not possible to say exactly how high the risk of infection is in this case and how often someone becomes contagious again in their life. What is known, however, is that over 95 percent of people over 30 carry the Epstein-Barr virus. The so-called degree of contagion is therefore very high.