I’ve been dating this new guy for the past couple of weeks and he’s really big on kissing with tongue. I’m not a fan of French kissing because, well, it’s too much saliva.

We went out last weekend to celebrate his birthday and in his best impression of an innocent child, he politely asked if he could kiss me with his tongue. I obliged–I figured why not? It’s his birthday, so why not give the kid a little treat?

Big mistake! A few days later he hits me up on AIM and says, “Hey baby I’ve been sick and I went to the doctor today and he said I have Mononucleosis.” I was confused. I didn’t even know if that was English. I got really scared and felt like he had given me an incurable STD–even though we hadn’t had any sexual contact–I pressed my caps button and said, “WHAT?????”

He said, “Boo, it’s just mono, you know? The kissing disease.” I felt like he was taking this situation way too lightly. I’ve heard that mono can hospitalize people. Just to clear up some truths and non-truths, I’ve done some research for myself and decided to pass it along to all of you readers out there.

Mono is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. This virus stays in your body for the rest of your life and sometimes you’ll never show any symptoms at all, but you can still pass it onto people. Some symptoms that show you have mono are fever, sore throat, loss of appetite, headaches, sore muscles,(note: as I’m writing this I’m beginning to feel all of these things) skin rash, swollen glands, etc. It spreads through kissing, holding/shaking hands, or sharing eating utensils.

There is no cure for mono, all you can do is wait until the illness goes away by itself which can take up to four weeks. For more information on Mononucleosis visit: http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/infections/common/mononucleosis.html.