Treatment of whistling glandular fever in children

If the infection is harmless, no treatment is necessary. A specific therapy against the virus does not exist. If a therapy becomes necessary, then it is a symptomatic therapy.Since antibiotics only work against bacteria and not against viruses, their use is pointless.

Sometimes Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is confused with tonsillitis and then treated with antibiotics. If this treatment then takes place with an antibiotic from the group of aminopenicillins, a characteristic skin rash occurs in the presence of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever.

It is important to keep the bed rest.
In addition, a thorough mouth cleaning should be performed, in the context of brushing teeth and gargling.
It is important that the child drinks a lot and eats easily digestible food because of the fever.
The food should above all be easy to swallow due to the frequent occurrence of tonsillitis.
Cold drinks and ice can also alleviate the symptoms.
Acidic and spicy food should rather be avoided as they irritate the mucous membrane.
Homeopathic therapy can also provide relief.

Whistling glandular fever should be treated by a doctor so that complications can be detected early enough. If a skin rash or yellowish discoloration of the skin accompanies this and the lymph nodes are swollen, this indicates a more severe course of the disease, so that a doctor should definitely be consulted. If there is sudden onset of severe abdominal pain, especially in the left upper abdomen, and accompanying paleness, an emergency doctor should be called immediately, as a rupture of the spleen is suspected.

An existing splenic rupture must be operated on immediately. If dark red skin spots appear, this indicates a lack of blood platelets, so there is an increased risk of bleeding, which can also have life-threatening consequences. Other complications that can occur are shortness of breath due to severely swollen tonsils.

In addition, pneumonia, inflammation of the liver with accompanying jaundice and meningitis may occur. In general, the listed complications rarely occur in children within the scope of whistling glandular fever. Children between 4 and 16 years of age are usually affected by an infection with Pfeiffer’s glandular fever.

In most cases, however, the infection is very mild and is often confused with a mild cold. Nevertheless, the disease can also develop into a serious course with complications. If the fever is above 39° and the general condition is significantly reduced, one should pay attention to whether the child’s alertness changes.

If children develop a fever, they often stop drinking and take in too little fluid. They cloud over and become very sleepy. In this state, one should go to hospital to ensure a sufficient fluid intake and to stabilize the general condition.

If there is severe swelling of the lymph nodes, throat and swallowing difficulties, the fluid intake and also the food intake may also be reduced. In addition, the child should be monitored in hospital if severe abdominal pain occurs. These can occur in the context of an enlargement of the spleen and, in the worst case, indicate a rupture of the spleen.

In an individual case of infection with the Epstein Barr virus, there is no obligation to report. The German Infection Act does not stipulate that a notification must be made. However, if several incidents occur within a community facility, i.e. a kindergarten or school, the health department must be informed by means of a report.

If a child is thus ill with the virus and the acute illness was proven by blood tests, then parents should communicate this to the community facility, into which their child goes. The institution can then make a report in case of further illnesses. The incubation period of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever is variable from about 1 week to about 50 days.

This means that the period from the infection with the Epstein Barr virus to the outbreak of the symptoms of whistling glandular fever can last from one to several weeks. In individual cases, the incubation period can extend over months. An infected person is already contagious during the incubation period.

The time between infection and outbreak of the disease is between 10 and 50 days. This time, which the virus needs to infect the body, is called the incubation period. The virus is transmitted via saliva contact, since the virus is excreted via saliva.Even before the first symptoms appear, the disease is already contagious, as the virus is already in the saliva and can therefore be transmitted via droplet infection.

The risk of infection can go far beyond the acute illness. As a rule, there is a risk of infection for a few months, but sometimes for years. If one is already ill with Pfeiffer’s glandular fever, one is immune to it in the future.

How long the danger of infection exists cannot be clearly stated. After an infection, the virus survives for life in the body of an infected person and is also released periodically into the saliva. The patients are then theoretically contagious.

Since almost the entire population over the age of 30 has come into contact with the virus, the risk of infection no longer plays a role. However, there is an increased risk of infection during and a few weeks after an infection, as a large amount of the virus is excreted into the saliva during this time, making it easier to become infected. To be infected, however, there must be close contact with an infected person, such as when kissing.