Jessica I. Levin '95 had mono as a first-year for about six weeks, including over final exams.

"I had a quick, really intense case," she says. "It could have been the summer, so I was relatively lucky."

Her case was easy to diagnose, she says.

"I had a high, high temperature, and an enlarged spleen. I was sick as a dog," she says. "It was very obvious what I had."

Levin, who lives in Massachusetts, went home to recuperate, only coming back to Harvard for exams.

"I was beyond fatigue," Levin says. "I just sat in bed except to go take finals and then I'd go back to bed."

There is no specific therapy for mono, and bed rest is the best prescription. Botein also says: "[UHS] tells you not to drink alcohol until the liver count comes down."

Anne Harkavy '95 was sick for nearly eight months. She stayed in bed all summer, giving up a Washington, D.C. internship.

"It was horrible," she says. "I just sat in my bed, watching O.J. and complaining to whichever friends called me."

The months in bed disrupt many students' plans.

"The worst thing about it was my parents stuck around when they found out I was sick," Ritter says. "They made me stay in their hotel room, and it was when everyone was finding out about the housing lottery.

"They were breathing down my neck so much I thought I was going to go insane."

Misdiagnosis

Many students say, however, that their biggest problem with mono was getting a diagnosis from UHS. Mono is diagnosed by a blood test, called a mono spot test.

Harkavy says she literally had to give UHS an ultimatum to get a test.