Exact Answer: After about 24 months
Mono actually refers to infectious mononucleosis. It is a disease caused by the virus named EBV. Although it mainly affects teenagers, yet people of all age groups may get affected due to this disease. It is even known as kissing disease as it is transferred from one person to another via saliva. In some cases, even newborn babies show some minor symptoms of mono but generally, these symptoms are minor and are not noticeable. Once a person gets infected, the body acquires the immunity to fight the virus and hence, there are fewer chances of the person contracting the disease for the second time.
Mainly teenagers belonging to the age group of 12-19 years have maximum chances of contracting the disease. About 30% of teenagers of this age are contracted with this disease. The symptoms are noticeable in some situations while in others, they remain dormant.
How Long After Mono Can You Kiss?
| Type | Time |
| Minimum Time | 3 months |
| Maximum Time | 24 months |
Mono is neither a dangerous nor a deadly disease. The basic symptoms include swelling of lymph glands present in the neck and arms, fever with high temperature, and frequent chills. Some other symptoms of mono are headache, swelling of tonsils, weakness, sweating at night, and rashes near the mouth. Sometimes, there may be swelling of other vital organs like the liver and spleen. Although this disease is highly infectious, it is not fatal and can be cured easily by minor treatment.
Sometimes, mono is even confused with other common viral diseases such as flu. The symptoms resemble so closely that it is hard to distinguish mono from such diseases. The symptoms such as fever may fade away within 2 weeks but others would last even after the fever is gone. Well, if these symptoms last for longer than 2 weeks, then one should consult a doctor at the earliest.
The virus spreads from one person to another through contact with body fluids like saliva, blood, etc. Apart from sneezing and kissing, it can even spread by a sexual relationship with the affected person and organ transplantation. The virus normally remains dormant in the body for about 3-5 weeks before it actually starts reflecting the symptoms. The symptoms are noticeable after 2-3 months. In cases of children, this time gap is comparatively smaller.
EBV is one of the most commonly found viruses in the world. It remains in an inactive state in the body except in some rare situations where it gets activated and starts reflecting symptoms. People belonging to the age group of 12-25, nurses, medical professionals, and persons under medication used for suppressing the immune system are at high risks of contracting this disease. Hence, one should be very careful about the persons he is in contact it.
Why Should You Wait So Long To Kiss After Mono?
There are various ways of diagnosing mono. The initial processes include the doctor’s general inquiry regarding the persons he had been in contact with within the recent past, age, and the time he noticed the symptoms. The doctor would note down the temperature and check if the spleen is enlarged or not. Then the doctor would suggest you go through a blood count test that confirms the chances of infection if the lymphocyte count becomes extremely high.
Then the count of WBCs would be done to assess if the body is producing extra WBCs to fight back the virus. The second medical test includes the monospot test where the blood of the patient is assessed to find out if the body is producing antibodies to fight against these foreign dangerous viruses. There is a special group of antibodies known as heterophile antibodies that come into action when the body is infected with microbes or foreign substances.
The next test conducted is the EBV antibody test in which the blood of the patient is assessed to determine if the body is producing antibodies against the EBV virus. It is the test that yields result with the highest levels of accuracy. But, the test and the assessment of results may take a longer time than usual. If the disease is assessed properly within the period of 3-5 weeks, then there are fewer chances of complications and contraction to other individuals.
As a part of treatment and medication, the doctor would prescribe medications containing corticosteroids to reduce the swelling of glands and spleen. In most cases, the symptoms are cured within 2 months of proper care and treatment.
Conclusion
However, one can even take some home remedies to prevent and cure this disease. The infected person should take adequate rest and consume sufficient fluids. Consuming warm soup and other foods to assist the immune system in fighting against diseases is highly recommended. Proper care, treatment can help the person in recovering from the disease.
However, the infected person should abstain from kissing or indulging in any type of physical contact with other persons for at least 18-24 months. The person should not even indulge in transfusion of blood and transplantation of organs for this time period. He should try to some minimum distance from other persons.
However, parents should not give aspirin to their children to suppress fever as this may lead to further complications like permanent damage of the liver and kidney. The patient should follow the doctor’s advice and should take proper care of himself.