Mumps is caused by an infectious viral infection. The way of infection is through inhaling microscopic drops from the expired air and sneezing of the sick person - just as in colds and the flu. The incubation period (the period from the time of infection until the outbreak of the disease) is normally 14 - 18 days. Mumps is infectious approximtely 1 week before the outbreak of the disease and until the swelling has disappeared. Newborn babies are naturally protected from mumps for almost 6 months.
The symptoms start with uneasiness, possibly headache, vomiting, pains when chewing, and fever. Approximately 24 hours later, the parotid glands start to swell one at a time. The swelling abates in about a week. The disease usually will provide you with a lifelong immunity.
Mumps is most common in children between 3 and 12 years of age. The disease rarely causes complications. Young men who get mumps after puberty can develop an inflammtion in one or both testicles after a week which in rare cases can lead to sterility. In affected women, breast tension and accompanying inflammation and tenderness of the ovaries will appear but this will not lead to sterility. Other rare sequelae are a harmless form of meningitis, encephalitis, defective hearing, pancreatitis, and diabetes.
English children are offered a vaccine against mumps when they are 13 months old and again before they start school (usually between the ages of 3 and 5).
