Mononucleosis Causes and Mononucleosis Statistics
Mononucleosis is primarily caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) but can also be caused by Cytomegalovirus(CMV). Both of these mononucleosis causes are members of the herpes simplex virus family. Mononucleosis statistics gives us a brief idea about different mononucleosis statistics like medical mononucleosis statistics, death and mortality mononucleosis statistics, prevalence and incidence mononucleosis statistics etc. Here we are going to discuss mononucleosis causes and mononucleosis statistics.
Mononucleosis Causes
1.Epstein-Barr virus (EBV): In nearly 85% of the cases, the mononucleosis is caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and in such cases it is called as infectious mononucleosis. This most commonly infects the teenagers and young adults. Once you are infected, the virus remains in your body for the rest of the life. In children it produces very mild symptoms. In adults it may take 4 to 6 weeks for the symptoms to develop.
The EBV can spread through saliva, mucus from the throat and nose and in some cases even from tears. Therefore kissing, sharing dishes and eating utensils can cause mononucleosis. An infected person can, also spread the virus causing mononucleosis, through coughing or sneezing. During coughing or sneezing small droplets of infected saliva is suspended in the air, which can be inhaled by others resulting in mononucleosis.
2.Cytomegalovirus (CMV): Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is also a very common virus that often causes the cells to enlarge. Like EBV, CMV also doesn't produce any symptoms and about 80 % of the adults infected with CMV do not develop any symptoms. Mononucleosis results when the infection occurs in teenagers and young adults. The symptoms like swollen glands and sore throat are less common in people who have mononucleosis caused due CMV. When CMV causes mononucleosis, it is called as CMV mononucleosis or mononucleosis syndrome.
Mononucleosis Statistics
In most of the cases of mononucleosis there are no symptoms of monoclueosis that means the EBV infection is sub clinical. Studies show that EBV infects about 50 percent of the children by the age of five. And studies also show that about 90 percent of such cases are sub clinical.
Prevalence and incidence statistics is one type of mononucleosis statistics. In this the term prevalence refers to the estimated population of people who are infected by mononucleosis at any given time and the term incidence refers to the annual diagnosis rate, or the number of new cases of mononucleosis diagnosed each year. Each year a survey is conducted to study statistics of mononucleosis. Some of its results are given below.
- In a research conducted in 2002, it was found that about 95 percent of adults of the age group 35-40 years had been infected by mononucleosis in the United States.
- When Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection occurs during teenage or young adulthood, in 35 to 50 percent cases it causes infectious mononucleosis.
- In the research conducted in 2005, it was found that Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infects more than 98 percent of the world's population.
- The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) causes infectious mononucleosis in 90 percent of the cases.
