7. Flu Symptoms
As mono is caused by infection, it only follows that it should cause symptoms similar to other infections: such as the flu.
Thus, you can also expect to see the symptoms that are very often simply described as ‘flu-like’ symptoms. These include fever, shivering, sweating, general malaise and tiredness, sore throat, stomach pain, and nausea.
All of these symptoms are a sign that your body knows there is a foreign invader and that it is trying to ‘drive it out’ of the system. The body temperature is raised for instance to try and make the body too hot to be a suitable habitat for the germs. Likewise, nausea and sickness is intended to try and expel the bacteria, while the tiredness is a sign that energy is being spent on the immune system.
These flu symptoms are best managed by drinking lots of water. This will help to bring down the temperature and can prevent resulting dehydration (which can be dangerous if left untreated).
In very young children and babies, flu-like symptoms might be the only clue as to the presence of mono. One of the reasons that younger children and babies tend to show more minor symptoms like this is that they only tend to contract the illness from adults. That means that they may receive smaller ‘amounts’ of the virus via the air, which results in milder symptoms.