When I was about 15, I was diagnosed with mono and hepatitis and hospitalized for three weeks. It was a near-death experience, but I have recovered fairly well and feel healthy. Fifteen years have gone by, and I am in the process of tracking my medical files to determine which type of hepatitis I had. I was treated at a Navy hospital and have been told that the patient records for that year were lost in a fire. I have talked with my doctor and she does not seem to think it is very important to know what happened 15 years ago, but I do. My husband and I are planning a family, and I feel I need to know more. Is there a test that can be done, or is there a particular type of hepatitis seen in children with mono? I'm clueless and very frustrated. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Lisa

The answer to your question is rather simple. Infectious mononucleosis, or mono, is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). (Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, also causes a very similar syndrome, but I will assume that you actually had true mono caused by EBV.) Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) occurs in up to 90 percent of cases of patients with mono, so it is not surprising at all that you had some degree of hepatitis with your infection. Mono-related hepatitis usually resolves without further effects. In rare cases, the liver involvement can be severe, and when that is the case, a diagnosis other than mono should be sought.

What if you actually did not have mono? Well, there are not that many infectious causes of hepatitis and even fewer that could affect you now, years after your illness. The three main forms of hepatitis caused by a viral infection are hepatitis A, B and C. Hepatitis A infection is spread through contaminated food or water. It is possible that you had this illness and were misdiagnosed as having mono. I doubt it, however, because 15 years ago, it was already easy to make the distinction between the two diseases. But even if you had hepatitis A at that time, you have nothing to worry about now, since it never results in a chronic infection.

Hepatitis B infection is spread through sex and exposure to blood, such as from blood transfusions or contaminated needles shared by people who abuse intravenous drugs. Infection with this virus can become chronic, and if you developed chronic hepatitis B, you could be putting your husband and/or future babies at risk. However, I doubt you were exposed to the hepatitis B virus, and people who become as ill as you did usually do not develop chronic infection. However, it is very easy to determine whether you carry the hepatitis B virus by a simple blood test, and if you are worried, I would encourage you to be tested.

Hepatitis C usually does not cause a severe acute infection like you had. Like hepatitis B infection, it is spread by sexual and blood contact, but there are also quite a few people with the infection who have no known exposure. I also doubt that you had this virus, unless your mono diagnosis was incorrect in the first place. Again, a simple blood test could rule out hepatitis C infection.

In summary, I think you probably had hepatitis caused by EBV. Since this infection does not result in chronic hepatitis, you should not be worried at all about your husband or future children. If you are still not convinced, then I would encourage you to get tested for hepatitis B and C rather than worry about not being able to obtain the old records.