Mumps is a contagious viral infection that used to be common in children before the introduction of the MMR vaccine. Mumps is most recognisable by the painful swellings in the side of the face under the ears the parotid glands , giving a person with mumps a distinctive "hamster face" appearance. Other symptoms of mumps include headaches, joint pain, and a high temperature, which may develop a few days before the swelling of the parotid glands. It's important to contact a GP if you suspect mumps so a diagnosis can be made.
While mumps is not usually serious, the condition has similar symptoms to more serious types of infection, such as glandular fever and tonsillitis. Your GP can usually make a diagnosis after seeing and feeling the swelling, looking at the position of the tonsils in the mouth and checking the person's temperature to see if it's higher than normal. Let your GP know in advance if you're coming to the surgery so they can take any necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection. Before there was a vaccine, mumps was a common childhood disease in the United States.
In some cases, the disease caused complications, such as permanent deafness in children and, occasionally, swelling of the brain encephalitis , which in rare cases resulted in death. From year to year, the number of mumps cases can range from roughly a couple hundred to a couple thousand. In some years, there are more cases of mumps than usual because of large outbreaks.
See Mumps Cases and Outbreaks for more information. A: Mumps can be serious, but most people with mumps recover completely within two weeks. While infected with mumps, many people feel tired and achy, have a fever, and swollen salivary glands on the side of the face. Others may feel extremely ill and be unable to eat because of jaw pain, and a few will develop serious complications.
Men and adolescent boys can develop pain or swelling in their testicles. Women and adolescent girls can develop pain or swelling in their ovaries. Inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord meningitis and loss of hearing can also occur, and in rare cases, this hearing loss can be permanent.
The most serious complication is inflammation of the brain encephalitis , which can lead to death or permanent disability. A: When you have mumps, you should avoid contact with other people until five days after your salivary glands begin to swell because you are contagious during this time. You should not go to work, school, or any social events.
You can protect your child against mumps by making sure they're given the combined MMR vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella. Your child should be given one dose when they are around months and a second booster dose before they start school.
Your child needs to get 2 doses of the vaccine to provide the best protection against mumps. Read more about treating mumps. Mumps usually passes without causing serious damage to a person's health. Serious complications are rare. However, mumps can lead to viral meningitis if the virus moves into the outer layer of the brain. Other complications include swelling of the testicles in males or the ovaries in females if the affected male or female has gone through puberty.
Read more about the complications of mumps. The symptoms of mumps usually develop 14 to 25 days after becoming infected with the mumps virus this delay is known as the incubation period. The average incubation period is around 17 days. Swelling of the parotid glands is the most common symptom of mumps. The parotid glands are a pair of glands responsible for producing saliva.
They're located in either side of your face, just below your ears. Both glands are usually affected by the swelling, although only one gland can be affected. The swelling can cause pain, tenderness and difficulty with swallowing. More general symptoms often develop a few days before the parotid glands swell. These can include:.
While the infection isn't usually serious, mumps has similar symptoms to other, more serious types of infection, such as glandular fever and tonsillitis.
It's always best to visit your GP so they can confirm or rule out a diagnosis of mumps. It's also important to let your GP know in advance if you're coming to the surgery so they can take any necessary precautions to avoid the spread of infection. Mumps is caused by the mumps virus, which belongs to a family of viruses known as paramyxoviruses.
These viruses are a common source of infection, particularly in children. When you get mumps, the virus moves from your respiratory tract your nose, mouth and throat into your parotid glands saliva-producing glands found either side of your face , where it begins to reproduce. This causes the glands to swell. The virus can also enter your cerebrospinal fluid CSF , which is the fluid that surrounds and protects your brain and spine.
Once the virus has entered the CSF, it can spread to other parts of your body, such as your brain, pancreas, testicles in boys and men and ovaries in girls and women. People with mumps are usually most infectious from a few days before their parotid glands swell until a few days afterwards. For this reason, it's advisable to avoid work or school for five days after your symptoms first develop if you're diagnosed with mumps. Mumps can also be passed on by people who are infected with the virus but don't have any obvious symptoms.
See your doctor if you or your child has signs and symptoms of mumps. Mumps is highly contagious for about nine days after symptoms appear. Tell your doctor's office before you go in that you suspect mumps so arrangements can be made to avoid spreading the virus to others in the waiting room. Mumps has become uncommon, so it's possible that another condition is causing your signs and symptoms.
Swollen salivary glands and a fever could indicate:. Mumps is caused by a virus that spreads easily from person to person through infected saliva. If you're not immune, you can contract mumps by breathing in saliva droplets from an infected person who has just sneezed or coughed. You can also contract mumps from sharing utensils or cups with someone who has mumps.
The best way to prevent mumps is to be vaccinated against the disease. Most people have immunity to mumps once they're fully vaccinated.
The mumps vaccine is usually given as a combined measles-mumps-rubella MMR inoculation, which contains the safest and most effective form of each vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are recommended before a child enters school.
Those vaccines should be given when the child is:. College students, international travelers and health care workers in particular are encouraged to make sure they've had two doses of the MMR vaccine. A single dose is not completely effective at preventing mumps. A third dose of vaccine isn't routinely recommended. But your doctor might recommend a third dose if you are in an area that is experiencing an outbreak.
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