Potential Mono Transmission

[PsychsomaticHypochondriac]

Hello,

I know there are many questions regarding mono, but I have a specific case/example that want some analysis on.

I'm an 18 year old college student and took a cup from a basket (basket indicated it consisted of clean glasses). Unfortunately, as I drank from the cup, I drank from the part that had pink lipstick on it (I don't use lipstick). My guess is that the cafeteria personnel didn't wash this specific cup properly. I picked another cup from the same basket and it appeared to be clean.

While this may sound like a ridiculous example, I just want to know if there was any potential for mono transmission. I never had it and am confident I never contracted it when I was a kid.

Thanks for the help. It is really appreciated.

[mkh9]

I don't know much about that. Sorry.
mkh9

[Lebron21]

Ms mkh9 can I ask one more question please. What are little circles or scales on side of tongue? I've looked at Google and I'm scared of linchen or oral hairy lukoplekia. I don't know what else this could be?

[mkh9]

You are welcome!
mkh9

[Lebron21]

Thank you sweetheart. This is most interesting. I am going to request my doctor run some test.

[mkh9]

No. The mono spot test is very inaccurate. It can give you false positive and false negative results. It only is used when you have symptoms and they want to show it fits the picture so to speak. Otherwise it is useless.

But by now you would have started to get symptoms the time to get symptoms is 4-6 weeks.

Most people by adult hood have antibodies to Epstein Barr Virus or EBV that causes mono. So you probably have the IgG antibody. But if you wanted to see if you had recent exposure you could get the test that looks for Early antigen, Viral Capsid antibody IgM and IgG and Epstein Barr Nuclear Antigen.

However, The doctor won't order the antibody test unless you have symptoms though. Like I said earlier the virus would have been killed in the dishwasher.
mkh9

[Lebron21]

Biologist mkh, I was tested for mono quick test and it was negative. Would this rule out infectious mono?

[mkh9]

Since you don't know if this person had infectious mono and so you can only get it by saliva in the route you mentioned or if the person happened to be shedding EBV virus. This is unlikely to start with. Also, most viruses would be killed in the dish washing cycle. Lipstick stays on the glass even though it may have dead virus on it. Lipstick is hard to get off so it doesn't mean there is live virus on it if it went through the dish washing cycle.  EBV that causes mono stays alive only as long as it is moist. So if it is dry it dies off. The incubation period is 4-6 weeks before you get it.

So I really wouldn't worry. The dishwasher would have probably killed it. Chances are you may have it anyway. Most people have it as an adult and don't know they have been exposed as a child. As a child you get flu like symptoms and not the classic mono symptoms.  If you haven't been tested you could get tested if you want to know. But don't just get the mono spot test that test is worthless. Although you are young enough it is possible to not have it but you may have had it already.

mkh9

[PsychsomaticHypochondriac]

Thanks for the comment.

Unfortunately, I did drink from the area right where the lipstick was. It wasn't greasy and new per se, but I was able to wipe it off with a tissue (not an expert on lipstick so I can't tell you for sure if it was greasy/new due to the tissue being able to wipe it off).

Also, how contagious does mono/EBV become if it is exposed to the air for quite some time?

And no, I don't have any symptoms since this event occurred in the past few days. Do people definitely get the symptoms of mono if they are exposed to the virus? What's the incubation period like? Generally 2-6 weeks?

I know some of the questions can be found online, but some sources are unreliable.

Thank you once again.

[mkh9]

Well, it is a good question actually.
1. Firstly you don't know if anyone had actively shedding mono or EBV in that batch of drinking glasses. It is more commonly spread in someone who is acutely ill.
2. The dishwasher should have killed any virus left on the glass despite the lipstick.

3. Did you drink from the area right where the lipstick was? Was the lipstick faded? Or did it seem greasy and new?  You can sometimes tell if it was a fresh print versus if the glass had been through the dish washer.

4. In any case it is very unlikely that you got mono if the glass went through the dishwasher.

Why are you worried about mono do you have any symptoms?

mkh9