This is a case of a patient presenting with headache, malaise, and sore throat. Physical examination revealed fever (39.2 degrees Celsius), enlarged spleen, enlarged liver, and exudative tonsillitis. Diagnostics revealed leukocytosis, (+) antibodies to EBV, and abnormal liver function tests. With these salient features, the diagnosis for this patient is infectious mononucleosis.
Infectious mononucleosis or glandular fever is a viral infection caused by Epstein-Barr virus. Also known as "the kissing disease" as this infection most often transmitted by kissing. Patients infected with infectious mononucleosis presents with severe sore throat, fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and lymphocytosis with atypical lymphocytes. EBV infection also poses a risk for developing nasopharyngeal carcinoma.