Is one already contagious during the incubation period? | Incubation period of whistling glandular fever

Is one already contagious during the incubation period?

Whether one is contagious during the incubation period depends on the pathogen of the disease. During this time the reproduction of the germ in the organism takes place, so that theoretically there is a possibility that other people can also become infected during the incubation period. With Pfeiffer’s glandular fever there is even proven the chance to be infected during the incubation period, although there are no obvious symptoms of the disease.

This is particularly dangerous, since the highly infectious virus is transmitted via saliva. If people share dishes or a drinking bottle in everyday life, for example, and are not careful because of the lack of symptoms, the virus can infect other people very quickly during the incubation period. In studies it was found out that especially in the two weeks before the outbreak of the whistling glandular fever is very much virus in the saliva of humans. At the beginning of the incubation period, the virus can also be detected, but drastically increased and for an infection definitely sufficient is the concentration just before the onset of clinical symptoms.

Am I in the incubation period or do I have an asymptomatic course?

Many courses of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever are asymptomatic and especially in small children often show no clinical symptoms. Nearly all 40-year-olds in Germany have been infected with the Epstein Barr virus during their lifetime, but not all of them have experienced the typical symptoms of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever. This means that in the majority of cases the disease was asymptomatic or was mistaken for a simple cold.

These unspecific symptoms of a cold or flu can also occur during the incubation period and signal the reproduction of the virus in the body. It is therefore very difficult to differentiate between the incubation period or an asymptomatic course. Even with specific blood tests, it is difficult to make a definitive statement about whether the patient is in the incubation period or asymptomatic disease. In babies and infants, the course is often asymptomatic and in young adults 25% of the courses are atypical or without clinical symptoms.