Everyone has heard something about glandular fever. Children can also have this disease. What does it mean, what are the symptoms and is it contagious?
Mononucleosis
Mononucleosis is an infectious disease caused by a virus. Most people are infected as a small child without becoming ill. If the infection occurs during puberty or adolescence, it more often leads to symptoms.
Incubation period
The incubation period is the time between the actual infection and the appearance of the first symptoms. During this time, an infectious disease can already be contagious. In glandular fever, this period lasts from before the symptoms appear until the end of the fever period and healing of the throat infection. Sometimes it takes much longer
Phenomena
Common symptoms of glandular fever are;
- Fever,
- Glandular swellings in neck, groin and armpits,
- Strep throat and sore throat,
- Sometimes jaundice,
- Fatigue.
Contamination and consequences
The saliva of a child with mononucleosis is contagious. Contamination occurs through kissing, cuddling or through shared use of cups, glasses or bottles.
Exclusion from daycare, playgroup or school
With some infectious diseases, a child is not welcome at a daycare center, playgroup or school for a while because of the high risk of infection. The GGD (Municipal Health Care) has drawn up rules for this. A child with mononucleosis can simply come to the children’s center.
Report to the GGD
For some infectious diseases, a treating physician is obliged to report to the GGD that a child has this infectious disease. GGD does not need to be reported to the GGD