Mumps: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention

In 1967, before children were routinely vaccinated against mumps, there were 186,000 cases of mumps in the United States. Since vaccination began, the number of cases has been greatly reduced. However, mumps still occurs. Outbreaks (mainly on university campuses and other closely connected communities) have caused cases from 229 in 2012 to 6,109 in 2017.

The main incidence of mumps is children under 15 years of age, among which children aged 5 to 9 have the highest incidence. Young people also have a higher infection rate, which indicates the need to continue to use the vaccine. Winter and spring are 2 fastigia, and thus safety issues must be paid close attention to during these seasons.

• What is mumps?

Mumps is an acute respiratory infection caused by mumps virus infection. It is most contagious when the parotid glands are swollen and commonly seen in children and adolescents. Mumps virus mainly invades the parotid gland, which is located around the earlobes of the cheeks on both sides. In addition to the parotid gland, the virus can also invade other glandular tissues and organs, such as pancreas, gonads, brain tissue, heart, joints, etc. Mumps occurs frequently in winter and spring, and humans are the only source of infection.

• How does mumps spread?

Mumps is mainly spread through the respiratory tract, and the virus can exist in the patient's saliva and respiratory secretions, spread through the air or droplets. It can also be transmitted indirectly through clothing, toys or public utensils contaminated with the saliva of an infected person. Susceptible people usually get sick within 2-3 weeks after contact with the patient.

• What are the symptoms of mumps?

Mumps is mainly manifested as swelling and pain in front of the earlobes on one or both sides. The enlarged parotid glands are often hemispherical, with the earlobe as the center, diffuse swelling forward, downward and backward. The pain worsens when chewing or eating acidic foods. In addition to parotid gland swelling and pain, most patients with mumps also have a fever with a body temperature of about 38°C, intermittently. If there are no complications, it will heal on its own in about a week.

• What are the complications of mumps?

Mumps itself is not terrible, but complications can be serious. Mumps can be complicated by orchitis, viral encephalitis, pancreatitis, myocarditis, pneumonia, etc.

When patients with mumps have abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting, fever and other symptoms, they should be alert to pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening in severe cases. If the patient has headaches, persistent fever, vomiting, poor spirits, or even convulsions, it’s likely to be viral encephalitis. When girls have abdominal pain, ovarian inflammation might be the reason, and when boys have a fever with testicles swelling and pain, orchitis should be considered.

• What should one do when being infected with mumps virus?

Since mumps is highly contagious, once one is diagnosed with mumps, it is best to rest at home and not to go to public places to avoid spreading it to others. If there are no complications, it can heal itself in about a week, and after the parotid gland swelling disappears completely, the isolation can be ended. If one has contact with a mumps patient, it’s advised to isolate and observe oneself for 3 weeks.

• How to prevent mumps?

The first dose of mumps vaccine is one of the routine vaccines for children, and the vaccination age is between 12 months and 15 months. The second dose is between 4 and 6 years old. The vaccine used is a combination vaccine containing measles, mumps and rubella, also known as the MMR vaccine, and sometimes varicella (chickenpox) vaccines. There is no longer a separate vaccine for mumps only.

During an outbreak, a third dose can be given to people who have been vaccinated but are at increased risk of mumps (such as students or other people living in areas where mumps is an outbreak).

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