What are the Symptoms and Causes of Glandular Fever?

by Max Jones | Oct 10, 2014 | Health | 0 comments

Glandular fever is a kind of viral infection that mostly affects young adults. It is not severe health condition, but can be quite unpleasant and lasts for several weeks. The symptoms are mild and can be treated with painkillers to reduce fatigue and fever. A second attack of glandular fever is highly unlikely as people develop a life-long immunity to the disease after the first infection.

Causes of Glandular Fever

Glandular fever is spread through saliva and exposure to coughs and sneezes from other patients. This viral fever is caused by the Epstein- Barr virus (EBV). Most EBV infections take place during childhood and cause only mild symptoms. However, if the EBV infection is caught during early adulthood, they can develop symptoms of glandular fever.

When you get attacked by the Epstein- Barr virus, you will not beable to sniff the infection as the illness is usually mild. The infection will progress, albeit rather slowly with more severe symptoms. Initially, the classic symptoms are severe tonsillitis, sore throat and chronic fatigue with high fever of 38ºC or above, lasting up to three weeks.It also causes swelling of the lymph glands.

Symptoms Only a small minority of patients have symptoms that last for long, although some patients can experience a chronic form that can last for more than a year. The more severe form of infection causes an enlargement and rupturing of the spleen, causing liver inflammation, inflammation of the brain, swelling of the brain lining or spinal cord. The fever is also associated with jaundice, yellowing of skin and eyes, sore muscles and skin rash, red spots or bruises in the mouth. Fatigue could take months to wear off whereas some people have to live with the disease for over a year.

Is Glandular Fever Commonly Spread from Person to Person?

No, it is an uncommon type of infection and not everyone develops it; one in every 200 people will develop glandular fever in any given year. Any age and any gender can be affected, but young adults between the ages of 15 to 24 are most affected. Interns, college and school going students, nurses and caretakers are more prone to the disease.

Diagnosis: Is it possible to spot the illness in the nascent stages?

Glandular fever can show up on blood tests. However a blood test performed in the early stages may return a negative result.For this reason, a second blood test can be carried out to confirm the results. The test includes find out the count of white blood cells in your body. When you are infected with a virus, your body produces more white blood cells to fight against the infections. Increase in white blood cells is, the antibodies cannot be detected till the second or third week of the illness.A blood chemistry test can be done to detect the abnormalities and inflammation in the liver functioning for accurate results.

The symptoms of this viral illness can last for a few weeks, but in some people tiredness and swollen lymph nodes can persist for several weeks. In certain cases, the recovery time can last for months.

Care Measures Medication should not be taken without a consultation because there are potential side-effects of medicines like body rashes or allergies. However to mitigate the pain and fever, you can rely upon paracetamol, aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). (Children under the age of 16 years should not take aspirin, because it may cause a serious condition called Reye’s syndrome.)

Some Natural Remedies To Speed Up Recovery Treatment cannot completely kill the virus as it is justfocused on relief of symptoms. The main treatment is to look after yourself and drink plenty of fluids. Some remedies include:

Relieve your sore throat with salt watergargle.
Coconut oil is good for toxin removal and treating sore throat.
Apple cider vinegar is a well-researched source of anti-oxidants; it helps to get rid of the infection and boosts your immunity system.
A diet low in preservatives,food coloring and food additives is recommended to preventatives reactions to food and chemicals.
Reduce or avoid sugar and alcohol.
Avoid fatty foods and drink carrot, celery and beetroot juice.
Drink lemon juice with hot water.
The most helpful herbs include licorice, Siberian and Korean ginseng, Rehmannia, Schisandra and Withania. Throw in some herbs for the immune system, such as Andrographis, Echinacea, and Cat’s Claw.
B group supplements and Coenzyme CoQ10 are important for energy levels dipped by chronic fatigue.
Get plenty of rest, but do not go on complete bed rest.

Preventive Measures As with other infectious diseases, the spread of the glandular fever can be reduced. First thing to be kept in mind is to carefully wash the hands with soap under running water, especially after sneezing and coughing, and before touching other people.

Secondly, you need to take sufficient rest at home until you recover, just to prevent further spread of infection. You need to consult a doctor to understand the treatment measures.

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