In a study presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco, University of Minnesota researchers found that students who receive an antiviral medication early in the course of the illness become less sick than those offered the standard advice to rest for several weeks.
The results are similar to a previous study by the same researchers on a different antiviral drug. But whether doctors embrace treatment of mononucleosis may depend on how they view the illness.
“When you are in a health service at a university or a big high school, you appreciate how many patients there are and how sick kids can be,” said Dr. Henry H. Balfour, the lead author of the papers and a professor of laboratory medicine and pathology. “We have kids miss entire semesters, and their studies suffer. It’s not a trivial disease for people who are active.”
- Campuses :
- Twin Cities
- Crookston
- Duluth
- Morris
- Rochester
- Other Locations