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| |    Suspecting Mono in Your Younger Child by Lynn Cates, M.D., F.A.A.P. reviewed by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. Since most people associate mono with teens, when the diagnosis is made in a younger child, her parents often wonder how she got it--with visions of the "kissing disease" in their minds. But it turns out that the more close contact children have with other people, like in daycare, the more likely they are to develop mono at a younger age. Mono often goes undiagnosed at this age because--for reasons we don't understand-- the virus that causes mono, the Epstein-Barr virus (or EBV), usually doesn't make young children as sick as it does teens or adults. Nonspecific symptoms As a general rule, young children with mono either don't have any symptoms at all, or they have the same kind of symptoms that you usually see with other routine viral illnesses like colds and flu. These include fever, headache, sore throat, tiredness, stomachache, muscle aches, and decreased appetite. Sometimes young children develop weakness and don't feel up to their favorite activities. When mono is more likely You should be suspicious that your child may have mono if she has
Symptoms that are much more likely to occur in teens or adults but can also occur in young children include:
If you suspect that your child has mono, you should consult with her healthcare provider, because although the disease ordinarily is very mild in young children, it occasionally can cause serious complications. Another good reason to have her evaluated is that mono may look very much like other common childhood infections (such as strep throat) that do need specific treatment. Children who have been diagnosed with mono should be monitored by a healthcare professional until they have returned to normal.
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