Re: To JV

It is true that some people are exposed to EBV in childhood, but EBV is not easily transmittable - basically you have to share bodily fluids with someone.

95% is way too high (I know some sources say that).

If 95% of the population were exposed to EBV that would mean only 1 in 20 people would be susceptible to being infected, which would mean that adult transmission would be very rare. However I know that this isn't the case. Couples infect one another all the time.

Glandular fever / EBV is sometimes called the "kissing disease" because it is commonly transmitted this way.

EBV is a strange disease in that basically the younger you get it the easier it is. Young people are usually totally asymptomatic. Teenagers may get mild symptoms. People in their 20's and 30's suffer more. And if you catch it when you are older then it can be extremely debilitating.

One of our actresses in the UK (Barbara Windsor) caught EBV at age 70 or so and basically she has had to take a year off from work. Thats just EBV with no complications.
Like you it took me about 3 months to get over it at age 28.

Now in your case it *could* be that you had EBV since childhood and it was only reactivated by your immune system going down. Certainly EBV is one of the herpes family of viruses - other members of which can be reactivated in the same way - e.g. herpes itself and chicken pox (which when reactivated is called shingles).

When I got infected I had to play detective and work out how/where I got infected from. I traced it back to 2 flatmates. One of the problems with EBV is that it affects different people in different ways. Whilst I was in bed for 3 months, my infectees didn't even know they had glandular fever. They knew they were ill, but hadn't even bothered to go to the doctor, as a result of which no precautions were taken and I got infected.

Anyway I forget the point.

Do you want to know the ironic thing? Both herpes and EBV can be treated with the same thing (given that they are both members of the herpes family of viruses which are lipid coated).