Recently, it has been highly prevalent! If your child has these symptoms, be alert to "EB virus" infection!

Recently, the pediatric outpatient clinic of Hecheng Branch of Huaihua Second People's Hospital has received many children with "infectious mononucleosis" caused by Epstein-Barr virus infection, with symptoms including cough, fever, and bilateral eyelid edema.

Initially, these children did not receive timely treatment due to unknown causes, which led to repeated fever and worsening of their condition. However, they recovered and were discharged successfully under the professional treatment of the pediatric team of Hecheng Hospital. So, what exactly is EB virus? How can it be prevented and treated? Pediatric experts from Hecheng Hospital are here to answer your questions.

1. What is Epstein-Barr virus?

EB virus is a herpes virus that is tropic to human lymphocytes. It is mainly transmitted through saliva and can also be transmitted through blood transfusion. EB virus infection is very common in the normal population, and more than 90% of adults have positive serum EB virus antibodies.

Primary EBV infection is the first time a patient is infected with EBV. Its typical clinical manifestation is infectious mononucleosis, and it can also cause chronic active EBV infection and EBV-related hemophagocytic syndrome. In addition, EBV is also an important tumor-associated virus, which is related to the occurrence of some tumor diseases such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, gastric cancer and lymphoma.

2. What is infectious mononucleosis (IM)?

Commonly known as "kissing disease", it is an acute infectious disease caused by Epstein-Barr virus. The peak age of IM in children in my country is 4 to 6 years old. Its clinical characteristics are as follows:

1.90%~100% of cases have fever, which lasts about 1 week, and in severe cases 2 weeks or longer, which is not obvious in young children;

2. About 50% of children have grayish-white exudate in their tonsils, and 25% have petechiae on the palate;

3.80%~95% of cases have superficial lymphadenopathy. Any lymph node can be affected, but cervical lymphadenopathy is the most common.

4. The incidence of splenomegaly is 35%~50%;

5. The incidence of liver enlargement is 45%~70%;

6. Eyelid edema may occur in 15% to 25% of cases

7. The incidence of rash is 15%~20%, and the manifestations are diverse, including erythema, urticaria, maculopapular rash or papules, etc.

3. How to diagnose and examine?

Clinical diagnosis can be made based on typical clinical manifestations (fever, sore throat, hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy, eyelid edema), peripheral blood atypical lymphocytes >10%, positive heterophile agglutination test, EBV-specific antibodies (VCA-IgM, low-affinity VCA-IgG, EA-IgG) and positive EBV-DNA test.

4. How to treat and what is the prognosis?

There is no specific treatment for infectious mononucleosis, and symptomatic treatment is the main treatment. The prognosis of the disease is usually good, and most patients can recover on their own. A few patients may develop chronic active EB virus infection or serious complications, such as spleen rupture and hemophagocytic syndrome. Therefore, for confirmed patients, the changes in the condition should be closely monitored and complications should be dealt with in a timely manner. In addition to infectious mononucleosis, some malignant diseases, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma, are also related to EB virus infection.

5. How to provide good health education?

1. The key point for preventing IM is that parents should not kiss their children, nor should they let others kiss their children casually. There are hundreds of bacteria in the mouths of adults, and more than 270 of them can be transmitted through kissing. Children have low resistance, and mouth-to-mouth kissing can easily spread the disease.

2. Explain the knowledge of disease health education to the parents of the children, and educate the children to maintain good hygiene habits, including washing hands frequently and not sharing tableware and toys casually, which can effectively reduce the possibility of virus transmission. Avoid close contact between children and people infected with EBV, especially when the other party shows symptoms.

3. Enhance immunity and maintain a healthy lifestyle for children, including adequate sleep, a balanced diet and moderate exercise, which can help improve the resistance of the immune system and reduce the risk of infection.

4. Regular physical examinations. Regular physical examinations for children can help to detect potential health problems early and take timely measures for prevention and treatment. Vaccination: Although there is no vaccine specifically for EBV, vaccination with vaccines in the immunization program or other Class II vaccines can reduce other viral and bacterial infections and improve the overall resistance of the immune system.

5. Dietary habits recommendations: Patients should maintain a light diet during treatment. They can eat easily digestible foods such as millet porridge and noodles appropriately, and avoid eating spicy foods such as chili peppers and peppercorns to avoid aggravating the condition.

6. At the same time, children with IM also need to pay attention to rest more and avoid overwork to avoid affecting the recovery of the disease. Limit or avoid exercise. Because the pathological changes of the spleen in IM recover very slowly, children with IM, especially adolescents, should not exercise vigorously until 2 to 3 months or even 6 months after the symptoms improve. Pay attention to constipation. Children with IM should use aspirin as little as possible to reduce fever, as it may induce spleen rupture and thrombocytopenia.

Here, experts kindly remind you: Nothing is too small when it comes to children. When children have eyelid swelling, do not ignore it. In addition to considering heart and kidney function-related diseases, you should also be alert to infectious mononucleosis caused by Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Although this disease is a self-limiting disease, its complications may have a serious impact on the patient. If your child has any questions or discomfort, please go to a regular hospital for medical consultation in time.

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Yang Shumei and Li Meifang from Huaihua Second People's Hospital

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(Edited by Wx)