Mononucleosis is a disease caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a member of the herpes family. The herpes family also includes viruses that cause cold sores, chicken pox, genital herpes, and birth defects (7). Mono, short for mononucleosis (3) “gets its name from the fact that it causes a person’s white blood cells to become distorted, so that they have only one nucleus (becoming mononuclear) instead of the usual divided nucleus.” (3) The first accounts of mono are credited to Filatov and Pfeiffer who around the end of the nineteenth century described and illness known as Drusenfieber or glandular fever which occurred in family outbreaks. Howeve