Mononucleosis, aka EBV, like other Herpes viruses is life long. These viruses are known to hitch a ride on platelets to spread and this behavior leads to ITP.
"Platelets and Infection – An Emerging Role of Platelets in Viral Infection"
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270245/
Is it a coincidence that chronic ITP is only chronic because Herpes viruses cannot be eradicated from the body?
If one day these viruses can be eradicated, what are the implications? No more chronic ITP?
"CRISPR Puts Up a Fight Against Persistent Herpesviruses: A Short Animation"
blogs.plos.org/speakingofmedicine/2016/08/04/crispr-puts-up-a-fight-against-persistent-herpesviruses-a-short-animation/
The full text article.
"CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing of Herpesviruses Limits Productive and Latent Infections"
journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005701
On a slightly different note, about the article on Platelets and Infection. Besides the Herpes viruses, the Influenza virus is implicated too. But the Flu virus CAN be eradicated from the body. So are 'spontaneous' ITP remissions
(row 2 on my ITP table)
only because those folks had ITP triggered by the Flu? Once the Flu virus went away, so did the ITP, once the immune system settled down?
Further. As we know, children's immune system must learn how to destroy lots of invaders as we grow up. Flu viruses are always changing. As new strains come along, some are brand new to a child - offering a big challenge to the immune system. What if most cases (80%) of ITP in children can be attributed to the Flu? Is that the reason why most cases of ITP in children self resolve?
Even further. Is it possible that this study, which seems to accurately predict acute versus chronic ITP doing nothing more than identifying those children who had ITP triggered by the Flu (and are thus row 2 in my table)?
"Expression Differences Distinguish Pediatric Acute and Chronic ITP Using RNA Sequencing"
www.bloodjournal.org/content/132/Suppl_1/127?sso-checked=true
Cheers to no more chronic ITP.