Mono-Hodkin’s link suspected

As if suffering from a bout of mono wasn’t bad enough.

According to a recently conducted… As if suffering from a bout of mono wasn’t bad enough.

According to a recently conducted study coming out of Denmark, people who contract infectious mononucleosis have more than two times the risk of developing Hodgkin’s Disease, a treatable cancer of the lymph system, compared to those who don’t get the virus.

The study, published in the Oct. 2 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, was an effort on the part of several health groups and agencies in Denmark and Sweden involving more than 62,000 Danish and Swedish people.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the disease makes up less than 1 percent of all cancers contracted annually.

Those in the study with the “mono” virus, though, were found to contract the rare cancer at a rate of 1 in 1,000.

The study looked at patients’ risks for developing Hodgkin’s lymphoma during the two decades after they contracted the virus, which generally occurs in the early adult years.

According to Dr. Kenneth Foon, co-director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Program for Pitt’s Cancer Institute, who was not involved in the study, mono-sufferers should not be panicked by the results of the study.

“Having infectious mononucleosis does not mean you will definitely get Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Foon said. “What this study has done, through historical research data, is prove one link that’s been suspected for awhile.”

One factor in convincing study researchers of the connection between the two was the discovery that of those in the examined group who had developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 16 of 29 tumors, or 55 percent, contained the Epstein-Barr virus.

The Epstein-Barr virus is an exceedingly common virus spread through saliva through acts like kissing. While relatively harmless to children, it can cause infectious mononucleosis in those of puberty age or older, with symptoms of fever, extreme fatigue and swollen glands.

Study researchers still do not know exactly why infectious mononucleosis leads to a higher rate of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and say it is by no means the only cause of the cancer.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma affects the body’s lymph system, a part of the body’s immune system. According to the UPCI Web site, the lymph system is made up of thin tubes that branch, like blood vessels, into all parts of the body.

Lymph vessels carry a colorless, watery fluid containing white blood cells called lymph. Along the network of vessels are groups of organs called lymph nodes. Clusters of lymph nodes are found in the underarm, pelvis, neck and abdomen. The lymph nodes make and store infection-fighting cells and are generally where signs of the cancer are fist seen.

According to UPCI, Hodgkin’s lymphoma most commonly affects young adults and those older than 55, although there are childhood occurrences of the cancer.

Signs of the disease include swelling of the lymph nodes, fever, fatigue and weight loss without dieting.