As if having the exhausting “kissing disease” – also known as mononeucleosis, or “mono” – isn’t bad enough, about one in 10 people with this infection will develop chronic fatigue syndrome in six months, researchers report.

To better predict which people with mono might end up with debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome, investigators at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago developed a new scale to rate how severe a mononucleosis infection is. They then tested it in 126 college students diagnosed with mono.

Diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome

“We looked at what factors correlated with bad outcomes and then tried to validate these measures,” said Dr Ben Katz, an attending paediatric infectious diseases specialist.

People with the most severe mononucleosis infections based on the new scale were more than three times as likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, Katz explained.

And three factors in particular often showed up in people with more severe mono. These included:

• Being unable to leave home when symptoms were worst.
• Having trouble breathing.
• Experiencing digestive symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting.

Mononucleosis is a contagious infection, commonly caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It often occurs in younger people – especially those in high school and college. Symptoms include extreme fatigue, fever and sore throat. Between 1% and 5% of college students are diagnosed with mono, according to the study authors.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is also called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The CDC says it causes extreme fatigue, sleep problems, thinking and memory issues, dizziness and pain. Symptoms can get worse after exercise. The exact cause is unknown, and it’s difficult to diagnose, the CDC noted.

Big problem on college campuses

Unfortunately, there are no good treatments that get to the root of either mono or CFS, according to Katz. There are supportive treatments that may make people feel better, he said, but no cures for either illness.

“This is a big problem on college campuses, and it could help to have a tool to predict who might have trouble,” Katz said.

Dr Jane Swedler, chief of adolescent medicine at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, New York, reviewed the findings.

“We know there is an association with CFS and a certain history of specific infections, like mononucleosis,” she said.

Swedler said the new, validated measure should be helpful for guidance and planning. “There’s a predictive value to it, and it may be used to standardise care and possibly for earlier treatment of CFS,” she said.

Don’t kiss

So what can you do to ensure you don’t get mono, and then possibly CFS?

There’s no vaccine for mononucleosis. To help prevent it, the CDC recommends that you do not share certain items, such as: drinks and food; eating utensils; and personal items, like toothbrushes.

And, if you think someone might have an infection, don’t kiss them, because the disease can be transmitted through kissing, the CDC warns.

The study was recently published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

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Scientists suspect that your gut microbiome – the mix of bacteria that inhabit your intestines – affects your health in many ways, but a surprising new finding suggests that a healthy microbiome may even ease the symptoms of autism.

The small study of 18 children with autism who also had severe digestive problems found that a faecal transplant to rebalance their gut microbiome reduced both their digestive symptoms and their autism symptoms. The improvements persisted during the two-year study follow-up period.

Better behaviour

“We treated children with autism by altering the gut microbiota. All had gastrointestinal symptoms – diarrhoea, constipation, stomach pain – and those symptoms were reduced dramatically, and their behaviour improved as well,” said study senior author Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown. She’s a professor at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

“When we checked again two years later, behaviour was even better and gastrointestinal symptoms were still much better, but not as good as right after treatment,” she said.

Krajmalnik-Brown said it’s not clear exactly how improving the microbiome helps autism symptoms. Because all of the children had severe digestive issues, she said it’s possible that “they may be more comfortable and better able to focus and learn”, she suggested.

It also might be that healthier microorganisms in the gut may send chemicals to the brain that help children learn and make connections, she added.

The researchers noted that 30% to 50% of people with autism also have chronic digestive problems that may make them irritable and make it difficult to learn, pay attention and behave well.

The kids treated in the study were found to have a low diversity of bacteria in their intestines at the beginning of the study. All 18 received the faecal transplant daily for seven to eight weeks.

Decrease in autism symptoms

The treatment increased the diversity of microbes and healthy bacteria in the gut, according to the researchers.

When the study started, 83% of the children were classified as having severe autism. At the end of the study, only 17% were severe, 39% were mild or moderate, and 44% were below the cut-off for mild autism spectrum disorder, the findings showed.

A professional evaluation of the children’s symptoms found a 45% decrease in autism symptoms compared to the start of the study.

Many of the study participants had multiple factors that could lead to a less diverse microbiome. For example, many were born by Caesarean section, which is linked to fewer gut bacteria. Other factors were reduced breastfeeding, increased use of antibiotics and low fibre intake, the researchers said.

Dr Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioural paediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, reviewed the study findings.

He said, “Although parents of children with autism frequently note that their children have significant gastrointestinal problems, this study suggests that changing the bacteria in the gut may lead to sustained improvements in a child’s autism symptoms.”

A more diverse diet

However, Adesman said it’s important to remember that the study didn’t have a placebo group, and all the children and parents knew they were receiving the treatment.

In addition, he noted that only children with autism and severe digestive problems were included in the study. It’s not clear if this treatment would be helpful for kids with autism who don’t have digestive problems.

Both Adesman and Krajmalnik-Brown agreed that more study of this treatment is needed.

Krajmalnik-Brown said that parents who are interested in improving their child’s microbiome can try feeding them a more diverse diet, including more fibre from foods such as vegetables and fruits.

She stressed that no one should attempt the study treatment at home. “This was done in very supervised conditions. Done incorrectly, it could cause gastrointestinal infections,” Krajmalnik-Brown said.

The findings were published online in the journal Scientific Reports.

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If you ask Jessamyn Stanley what her first time doing yoga was like, she’ll tell you it was hell on earth. Yep, Stanley, a yoga instructor who now travels the country to teach her many fans, hated yoga the first time she did it.

She details the experience on her blog, where she explains that her aunt dragged her to a hot yoga class when she was just 16. “When you are a whiny high school student being forced to spend your summer vacation in a sweaty and stiflingly hot yoga studio instead of camped out on your aunt’s couch watching her endless supply of VHS tapes, one 90-minute yoga session will quickly turn into a nightmare,” she wrote.

If you know anything about Stanley, you know her feelings about yoga have changed a lot since she was 16. A yoga celebrity, if you will, Stanley is now showing the world that you don’t have to have a tall, lean body type to be a pro yogi. The yoga mat doesn’t judge, and neither should we.

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“I have received so many negative comments about my body in my life,” Stanley tells Health in a recent interview. “I cannot even begin to list all of them. They go from ‘You’re fat,’ ‘You’re ugly,’ ‘You’re disgusting,’ ‘You’re promoting obesity,’ ‘You’re a horrible person.’ Everything that you can think of to say, and more specifically to a fat person, has been said to me.”

But Stanley has a remarkable way of rising above the haters. She reminds herself that “anyone who says anything mean about you is just reflecting their own self-hatred.”

In fact, by reminding herself that people who try to hurt her are really just hurt themselves, she says she actually feels compassion toward them. “It makes me see that I can’t carry the weight that other people are carrying for themselves. That’s not my responsibility. And it makes it a lot easier to lift off the baggage of other people and walk on my own path.”

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Stanley has never shied from walking on her own path. She’s used Instagram as a way to start a conversation around parts of being a woman that we all experience but rarely talk about. For example, she has candidly documented the scars on her thighs from chafing and the stretch marks on her stomach.

RELATED: Jessamyn Stanley Poses in Lingerie to Share an Insanely Candid Close-Up of Her Stretch Marks

“I’m always like ‘I’m not the only one who’s feeling this, but why am I the only person who’s talking about it?’” she says. “Your body is meant to change, it’s meant to shift, it’s meant to grow.”

She’s right, and loving ourselves comes from learning to accept that. Everyone’s self-love journey is different, but for Stanley, yoga was what helped her accept herself for who she is—although if you told her 16-year-old self that, she probably wouldn’t have believed it.  

“Before I started practicing yoga, I did not understand the gift that my body is,” she says. “Yoga has given me the space to understand that every part of me is necessary. Everything is exactly as it needs to be. And what needs to be silenced are the voices that make me feel otherwise.”

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If your kid still won't listen when you tell them sticking things up their nose is bad, this tale might help you convince them you have their best interest at heart.

A 15-year-old girl who had likely inserted a piece of plastic in her nose as a small child recently had to undergo treatment for a condition called rhinolith caused by that insertion, according to a case report in the BMJ.

The patient had previously suffered from a runny nose. The discharge was "occasionally foul-smelling and blood-stained," the report notes. Rhinolith is rare, and it can occur when a child sticks an object in their nose. The condition is "caused by gradual deposition and coating of different salts of calcium and magnesium from body fluids over an object inside the nasal cavity," the report says.

However, the cause of rhinolith isn't always a piece of a toy or something a child found on the floor. It can also be endogenous, meaning it came from inside the body. For example, it could be an extra thick bit of mucus that salts from calcium can build upon.

Misdiagnosis isn't out of the realm of possibility if your child has this condition, the report warns. "Although diagnosis of rhinolith is straightforward, sometimes they have to be differentiated from inflammatory conditions like sinusitis," it says, as well as from conditions that cause tumors and other growths. "However, clinical and radiological examinations can easily rule them out," according to the report.

Following diagnosis, the item must be removed. Depending on the size of the item that was originally lodged in the nose, a patient with rhinolith might need anesthesia because the removal "may require considerable manipulation with expected bleeding." General anesthesia might be especially necessary if the patient is a young child, the report says.

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In the case of the 15-year-old girl recently treated for rhinolith, treatment was relatively simple, and there were no complications afterward. Following the surgery, the patient received oral antibiotics, which she was told to take for five days. Additionally, she had to use saline nasal sprays multiple times throughout the day.

After the removal procedure, doctors found what was likely the source of the condition. "Two of the fragments of the removed rhinolith when scraped revealed a rubbery plastic sheet," the report says. The case report author writes that the fragments were probably from something the patient had put into her nose years ago as a kid, but she didn't recognize the pieces of plastic. "She did not have cognitive impairment and did not remember ever inserting anything in her nose," according to the report.

Before you get paranoid about the Legos your kids play with, remember that rhinolith is rare and it can be treated.

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A high school principal fell into a month-long coma and died on Sunday after selflessly donating his bone marrow to save the life of a teenager in France.

Derrick Nelson, who worked at Westfield High School in New Jersey, had the procedure at a Bergen County hospital in February, his family told NJ.com.

“After the procedure he did, he couldn’t speak and was lying in the bed,” his father, Willie Nelson, told the news outlet. “His eyes were open and he realized who we were. But he couldn’t move. He never spoke again.”

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“We really don’t know the full story of what happened,” he added. “We were expecting him to come out of the coma he was in. But he didn’t make it.”

His fiancée, Sheronda Braker, told CNN that he “was a tremendous father to our beloved daughter Morgan and the best companion and life partner I could have ever asked for.”

“He loved his family almost beyond belief. He was a man who carried himself with dignity, courage and compassion,” she continued. “His last kind and generous act on this earth in giving so someone else might live is a true testament to who he was and how he should always be remembered. We will always love him.”

RELATED: New Jersey Dad Gets Kidney from Stranger After Wife's Facebook Plea: 'I Feel Like a New Person'

According to the school newspaper, Nelson donated blood during college in 1996 — and it wasn’t until 2018 that he got the call he might be able to save a life.

Be the Match, a national bone marrow donor program, contacted Nelson in October and told him that he could be a match for a 14-year-old boy. Just a few months later, he went through with it.

The process to extract the bone marrow was rough, he told the student newspaper, but “if it’s just a little bit of pain for a little bit of time that can give someone years of joy, it’s all worth it.”

RELATED: 6th GradeTeacher Donates His Kidney to Save Student's Life: 'There Is No Greater Gift'

Shelley Brindle, the mayor of Westfield, wrote on Facebook that “this is a tremendous loss for our community, and I know that our children, and we as parents, will struggle with coming to terms with this over the coming days and weeks.”

Junior Daniel Peterson told CBS that Nelson “was very easy to talk to and he pushed family values at assemblies or saw you in the hall. Now that he’s gone, it feels like part of the community is gone.”

A vigil will be held at Westfield High School on Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. and funeral services will be on Tuesday at 11 a.m., according to the Plinton Curry Funeral Home.

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