This is my letter to the Minnesota Daily regarding this article: http://www.mndaily.com/2010/11/05/annual-occurrence-mono-comes-campus
Let me know what you think!
Mono: Not Just a Kissing Disease
In reading the article "An annual occurrence, mono comes to campus" I was disappointed to find that it only reaffirmed the inaccurate assumption that Mono is only transferred by kissing. Henry Balfour is quoted saying "it's spread by sharing oral secretions and usually not by sharing pop bottles." Although Balfour does acknowledge that Mono is spread by saliva he dismisses the fact that it can, and is, spread by sharing pop bottles, utensils, and toothbrushes. It is also possible to spread Mono by coughing and sneezing.
This article is slanted to make the reader believe that campus freshman and other people who have Mono must have gotten it by kissing. As a reader that had Mono when I was in 4th grade, I am personally positive that this is not true. I also think that it would be reasonable to assume that given the close quarters of dorms Mono might spread a little more easily than in a regular environment. I would suggest researching an article of this sort a little more carefully in the future in order to insure accuracy.
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