Someone you’ve kissed is sick
Mono is called the “kissing disease” because it’s so easily and frequently spread through saliva (though it can also spread through blood or semen). While you can also pick it up by sharing cups or utensils, an easy clue that you might have more than a common cold is if you and someone you’ve intimately kissed have similar mono symptoms for a prolonged period of time.
“It is difficult to prevent spreading mono because once a person has been infected with the EBV virus they can continue to shed it at various times throughout their life,” says Kim Alt, MD, of Rockford Pediatrics in Rockford, Michigan.
