The Epstein-Barr Virus

872 Words2 Pages

Epstein-Barr virus – The Tale of the Kissing Consequence

Written by: Kelsea Fehr (1399878)

Kelly was the girl that everyone wanted, she had an amazing laugh, beautiful skin, long wavy hair, but most of all, Kelly had luscious lips. All the boys ever dreamt of was kissing Kelly, their dream was closer of becoming true than what they thought. Kelly had agreed to take part in the fair kissing booth where all proceeds would go to charity. All of the boys lined up one by one to have their one chance with the best set of lips the town had to offer.

About 30- 50 days later, there was a strange number of students not able to attend the local high school. 4 They described symptoms of fatigue, fever, sore throat, cough, rhinitis, tonsillar swelling, swollen lymph nodes particularly in the cervical region and nose, headache, myalgia, loss of appetite, excessive sweating, blotchy red or bruise-like rash, and swelling around the eyes. 4 No one could figure out why all of these seemingly healthy adolescent males had suddenly been hit with such deteriorating symptoms. Dr. Jones started getting worried mothers bringing in their sick teenagers. One particular 16 year old male came into Dr. Jones’ clinic that day named Johnny. He assessed Jonny and noticed extremely swollen lymph nodes in his neck as well as significant swelling around the eyes. Dr. Jones had a sneaking suspicion about what the disease could be but had to run some tests to make sure. The test he decided to conduct is called a MONOSPOT that tests for Heterophile antibodies that are produced during IM. 2 The Monospot came back positive, confirming that Johnny had indeed contracted the Epstein- Barr Virus (EBV) and more specifically a disease called Infectious Mononucleosis (IM...

... middle of paper ...

...tion. EBV blocks apoptosis and proliferation of cells is unimpeded resulting in diseases such as lymphoma. 2

Johnny had definitely learnt his lesson that day. He recovered from IM a month later and vowed to never engage in risky kissing ever again. He proceeded to become a doctor and married a nurse who knew the implications of contracting EBV, she even had beautiful lips.

References:

Gnarpe J. Medical microbiology for health professionals. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Pub. Co.; 2012.

Junker A. Epstein-Barr Virus (2006, March). [cited March 28, 2014]; Available from American Academy of Pediatrics.

Leiberman P. Epstein-Barr Virus Turns 50. (2014, March 21). [cited March 27, 2014]; Available from PubMed.

Schub T, March P. Epstein-Barr Virus Infection. (2014, Feb 21), [cited March 27, 2014]; Available from: CINAHL Plus with Full Text.

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