Whistling glandular fever in children

Pfeiffer’s glandular fever in children is usually much more harmless than in teenagers or adults. Often the disease is not even recognized, since most children under the age of ten show almost no symptoms and only a few days of increased tiredness and some fever. This is often confused with a common cold.

Children are usually infected by kissing their parents, who are carriers of this virus. If no further complications such as very high fever or skin rashes occur, the therapy is purely symptomatic. Sick children should drink plenty of fluids and eat easily and digestible food during this time.

In addition, they should stay in bed if possible and infection of other people in the household should be prevented by increased hygiene measures. Since this is a viral infection, antibiotics are ineffective. On the contrary, the administration of penicillins such as amoxicillin can lead to a skin rash in this clinical picture, which under certain circumstances can lead to a life-threatening clinical picture, the Lyell syndrome.

Whistling glandular fever in the baby

In babies, infection with the Epstein-Barr virus is usually very unspecific, which is why the disease is often not recognized, especially in infants. The leading symptoms are fever, fatigue and exhaustion. These are often accompanied by headaches and aching limbs.

However, babies are not yet able to report these symptoms. Rather, babies infected with Pfeiffer’s glandular fever are very whiny and restless. They cry a lot, but are often tired at the same time.

Babies can also develop coatings on their tonsils and thus a tonsillitis. Likewise, swelling of the cervical lymph nodes often occurs. However, other lymph nodes distributed over the entire body are also affected.

Apart from the neck, this is mainly the case under the armpits and in the groin. The spleen can also be classified as a quasi giant lymph node. This can also swell in babies with glandular fever.

Babies can also suffer from a skin rash as a result of the infection, which is often very fine and patchy. Depending on the severity of the rash, it can be similar to that of measles or rubella, which is why it should be examined by a pediatrician. Only then can the correct therapy be initiated. Overall, EBV infections in babies are usually very mild or even go unnoticed, as the severity of the disease increases with age.