1/20 "Science Times"- Mono

The title of the article is "Students Still Getting Mono After All These Years."

I chose this article because over the weekend I went to U of Penn to visit my friend Pete for his birthday and he explained to me that his mother and younger brother both had mono. So I thought it would be interesting to brush up on some facts about the disease, because although I have heard of many people having it I really no nothing about it except how it is contracted.

The main focus in this article is how little consideration the Epstein-Barr virus, "mono", is given in the medical world. Some doctors are concerned that it is not given enough attention, due to the fact that the disease has become "trivialized." There is only so much money out there for medical research and mono is put at the back of the line. It's symptoms include "severe fatigue, fever, sore throats, swollen glands and enlarged spleen." But for many people the virus lays dormant in your system for life never showing any symptoms, another reason why people feel it is not important to research. For some symptoms can be very painful though, and since there is no cure for the disease, your only option is to wait it out and endure the pain. The article features a 13 year old girl who had mono and suffered an inflamed abdomen, and the only thing she got for it was a steroid shot to reduce the inflammation, the rest was an agonizing waiting game. In 99.9 percent of cases patients get better though. Doctors such as Joseph Pagano feel that more research need to be done to develop a cure, but as of now the majority feel it's not important. 

Personally I feel that as the years progress mono will become more and more of an issue, and eventually it will be recognized for its seriousness and allocated funds. With drinking games such as beer pong, and the many card games, mono is no longer a chance encounter, it will eventually become a widespread epidemic.