Some experiences are common to every definition of college life. All-nighters, roommate horror stories, frat parties and delivery pizza would surely make the list. But don't forget mono -- that notorious virus, technically known as Mononucleosis, that breeds in dormitories and thrives on college campuses. Talk to any student and chances area brother, girlfriend, roommate, best friend, friend of a friend or even the student himself has encountered this bothersome disease.
According to Dr. Joseph Chance, director of general medicine for student health, odds are not in students' favor when it comes to avoiding mono. "Statistically, every college student has a 75 percent chance of having mono before they graduate," he said.
College students are easy targets for the virus, which is caused by lack of sleep and spread through close or prolonged contact. Close contact can mean kissing or even sharing cups -- activities that aren't uncommon around Grounds.
Prolonged contact is exemplified by the roommate scenario, also known as dorm life. Chance recalls one year when the crew team struggled with a mono epidemic because of the athletes' habit of sharing cups.
In fact, last year over 600 cases of mono went through Student Health. Because of the high rate of diagnosed mono patients, Student Health often considers mono when students come in feeling ill.
The virus can be tricky to diagnose, however. The test Student Health most often performs, known as the "mono spot" test, is useful because results are returned quickly, but it can be misleading.
"Testing is tricky," Chance said. "The 'mono spot' test can be negative in early stages of mono. Additionally, a positive reading can be caused by a previous case of mono the patient has already been treated for, because the mono test will continue to find the mono virus in a patient's blood for a couple of years after treatment."
The unreliable nature of many tests means that doctors frequently must rely on a patient's description of their symptoms to make a diagnosis.
First-year College student David Hobbs remembers those symptoms all too well. He was diagnosed with the virus the week of finals last semester.
"My throat was really sore, and my tonsils were huge," Hobbs said."I couldn't sleep because it hurt so badly."
Hobbs, unfortunately, was one of the cases in which mono was not diagnosed by the Student Health's first few tests. Eventually Hobbs came down with a strep infection and an ear infection simultaneously and was forced to head home early, leaving some of his exams to finish upon his return in January.
"It was very annoying to have two finals hanging over my head while I was trying to enjoy my break," Hobbs said.
Second-year College student Peter Wade was faced with a similar challenge of making up work when he came down with mono around Halloween last semester.
Forced to go home for about three weeks, he returned shortly after Thanksgiving break to find that he had two choices.
"An associate dean spoke to me and said I could either drop the semester because of all the work I missed, or work out a special arrangement with my professors," Wade said.
Luckily, Wade's professors and TAs were helpful and flexible enough to work out a schedule that gave him time to complete assignments he had been too sick to turn in earlier in the semester.
Although mono frequently is passed from person to person, Hobbs believes lack of sleep caused his mono. After about a month of rest at home, he recovered. "It took me about a week to get over the worst symptoms, and I was tired for a couple more weeks," he said.
Wade also attributes his bout with mono to an unhealthy sleep pattern. "I was really run into the ground," he said. "Halloween week was when it all hit me. I wasn't really living very healthily."
Chance explained that because mono is a virus, it can't be treated like other illnesses with an antibiotic. Unfortunately for students who contract mono, doctors can't prescribe a pill or syrup to alleviate the constant fatigue.
Chance instructs his mono patients to treat their symptoms with throat lozenges, gargles and ibuprofen. "For more severe cases, such as swollen tonsils or glands that cause throat obstruction, we can prescribe steroids to reduce swelling, or a mild narcotic if pain is so bad that the patients can't sleep," he said.
Wade developed one of the more severe cases of mono. His glands became so swollen that he had to be hospitalized for a week. "At one point, I was so dehydrated I couldn't stand up," Wade said. "I had to stay in the hospital and be treated with IVs."
To speed healing, Chance advises that patients eat right and sleep right -- the same behaviors he says can prevent the disease.
Wade says that he now tries to go to bed earlier on weeknights, and watching what he eats.
"My diet is a big concern now," he said. "I have to concentrate on eating foods that will help me to regain the 20 pounds I lost when I was sick, and build my strength back up."
Although mono forced Wade and Hobbs to take a break from their studies, Chance said "95 percent of patients do not leave school."
In fact, most students with mono can continue to go along with their day-to-day lives and participate in physical activity as long as they stop when they feel any sign of fatigue.
So while horror stories of having to leave school early and missing entire semesters of class abound, the mono menace does not have to mean postponed graduations or ruined GPAs. And the good news is that, like some other not-so-desirable college episodes -- such as hangovers and last-minute 15-page papers -- mono can be prevented.
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