The transmission path is as follows

Pfeiffer’s glandular fever, or infectious mononucleosis, is a disease transmitted by the highly contagious Human Herpes Virus-4. The virus is found in the saliva of the diseased person and remains highly infectious long after the disease has passed. In the vernacular, Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is also known as “kissing disease”, since transmission occurs most often after contact with infectious saliva. The virus can therefore be transmitted simply by a kiss. Or if the baby’s pacifier or cutlery is used by a sick person.

Forms of progression

The course of mononucleosis also varies with age. The population group most frequently affected by Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is adolescents. In this age group, the typical symptoms are most pronounced and characteristic.

The younger the children are, the easier and more harmless an EBV infection is. Babies and toddlers often only suffer from fever, fatigue and swelling of the lymph nodes. For this reason, a diagnosis is much more difficult than for adolescents.

In babies and infants, the symptoms may even be completely absent so that they are infected with the Epstein-Barr virus but do not develop any symptoms. If a mother has already come into contact with the Epstein-Barr virus before pregnancy and has formed antibodies as a result, she transmits these to her baby for the first few months of life. As a result, the newborn babies cannot develop Pfeiffer’s glandular fever in the first few months.

You can find more information about the course of the Pfeiffer’s glandular fever here. In the very rare exanthematic form of the disease, a skin rash on the hard palate can be found. It is important to note that some antibiotics such as amoxicillin very often lead to a skin rash and should therefore not be administered under any circumstances.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis can be made on the basis of the typical clinic in conjunction with the corresponding laboratory findings. An infection with Pfeiffer’s glandular fever results in a typical increase in white blood cells, which in medicine is known as leukocytosis. Among the white blood cells, so-called mononuclear cells, a subgroup of the white blood cells, can be found with a proportion of 50-80%.

In addition, antibodies can be detected in the blood to diagnose a disease with Pfeiffer’s glandular fever. With such an antibody test, one can not only diagnose the Pfeiffer’s glandular fever itself, but also distinguish whether the infection is fresh or has already been through. It is the blood results and the detection of antibodies in babies that lead to the diagnosis of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever, as the typical symptoms may be missing. and diagnosis of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever