As if you don’t feel horrible enough since your recent diagnosis with glandular fever, you also have redness in the central area of your face that’s accompanied by acne. Glandular fever, also known as infectious mononucleosis, mono and the kissing disease is not causing your redness, but it is triggering your rosacea. Consult with your doctor if your facial redness is causing physical discomfort.
Identification
Acne rosacea is a chronic skin condition, so you likely experienced the redness, visible blood vessels and acne-like bumps before you were infected with glandular fever. Rosacea also often causes burning and stinging on the face, which resembles the sensation of a sunburn. Dry skin is also common.The symptoms of rosacea rarely goes beyond the face. An infection of mono can trigger rosacea symptoms, so your face develops typical rosacea symptoms in combination with severe fatigue, a fever, a sore throat, skin rash that’s not localized to the face, a headache and night sweats. Swollen tonsils and lymph nodes also occur.
Cause
The exact cause of rosacea is unknown, but there are several triggers that cause redness. Not everyone has the same rosacea triggers. If your rosacea flares while infected with mono, your fever is the possible culprit because anything that causes flushing or overheating of the face can increase your rosacea symptoms, according to the National Rosacea Society. Rosacea is not contagious. Glandular fever is a viral infection caused by Epstein-Barr virus. It’s more commonly known as the kissing disease because the virus is spread by saliva. You can also become infected by sharing eating utensils with an infected person or breathing in an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
Treatments
Acne rosacea is often treated with a combination of therapies. Oral antibiotics such as tetracycline are often prescribed to treat inflammation from a rosacea flareup. Antibiotics are not effective against glandular fever since the illness is caused by a virus; however, secondary infections can occur from glandular fever, such as sinusitis or tonsillitis, which requires antibiotics. Tetracyclines reduce the effect of commonly prescribed penicillin, which can result in a failure to treat the bacterial infection. Tetracyclines and penicillin should be avoided, so tell your doctor all medications you are taking for rosacea. Most rosacea medications, such as benzoyl peroxide and retinoid, are topical and can be continued while recovering from mononucleosis. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen reduce the fever from mono and can ease your sore throat.
Prevention
Reducing your fever from mono with ibuprofen or acetaminophen can decrease your risk of a rosacea flareup. Unless advised different by your doctor, continue using your rosacea medications to control redness and acne. You can avoid glandular fever by avoiding kissing and sharing eating utensils with a person infected with the Epstein-Barr virus.
