When R. Geordie Hyland '98 arrived at Harvard, he was excited to play hockey. But in mid-October, he started feeling tired all the time.
It took three visits to the University Health Services (UHS) for Hyland to discover that he had mononucleosis, or mono.
"I wasn't happy with that," he says. "[At first] they just thought it was a [flu] virus."
Hyland went home for a week to recuperate, missed three weeks of classes and dropped a class; a month later, his liver and spleen are still not back to normal.
In many ways, Hyland's is a common case at Harvard.
UHS "probably sees documented mono three or four times a month," says Dr. David S. Rosenthal, Director of UHS. "Sometimes it's up to 10 [cases per month]."
Like Hyland, many students who have had mono complain of UHS diagnosis procedures. Several undergraduates say they did not get mono tests until they demanded them.
For those students who are diagnosed with the disease, it often means weeks in bed and the loss of class, extracurricular and work time.
Hyland, for instance, has so far been unable to play with his team.
"For me, the biggest thing was not being able to play hockey," he says. "I'm a freshman, and I was real excited about playing."
Common Ailment
Mono is more common in close living communities like Harvard, where people are in constant contact, Rosenthal says.
"You always hear about [mono cases] more because of close living, with people having more contact," he says.
The disease is generally transmitted through oral contact or saliva exchange, which is the source of its "You can actually cough in someone's face [and spread mono]," Rosenthal says. Matt B. Botein '95 had mono during his sophomore year. Read more in News
