Mumps In Adults
What is Mumps? Mumps is a contagious illness that causes swelling of the neck and the parotid glands, or the saliva glands. Mumps is primarily a disease that affects children, but it can affect people of any age. When it affects adults, it may have some complications as well. It is caused by a virus, and there is no specific treatment for the disease, but one can be vaccinated against the illness. Since the development of the MMR vaccine, the disease is not as common as it used to be, but Mumps has started appearing more and more in adults and young adults.
How Does it Spread? The disease is spread by the mumps virus, which only infects humans. This means that you can only catch it from other people—children or adults. The virus resides in the mucus of the nose and throat, and that’s how it spreads. When an infected person sneezes or coughs, the virus may fall on hands or be breathed in by another person. Once infected, the virus begins to multiply within the body. After an incubation period ranging from anywhere between 12 and 25 days, the first symptoms of the illness begin to appear. The disease is contagious around three days before the symptoms begin to appear, so it is easy to spread the disease without even being aware of it.
Symptoms: The most common, identifying symptom of mumps is a swelling of the neck and salivary glands. This swelling is accompanied by an inability to speak clearly, and intense pain when swallowing, especially sour liquids. The disease is also usually accompanied by a fever, and sometimes headaches, muscle aches, tiredness and a loss of appetite. Some people will not show the symptoms at all, but may still be susceptible to the complications of the disease.
Complications: Most people recover from the disease without any long term complications, but with adults, there is a chance of some complications developing. In children, meningitis or encephalitis may develop in very rare cases. In adults, the most commonly observed complication is a sharp pain in the testes, usually accompanied be fever and chills. When this happens, there is a possibility that the affected testicle will permanently atrophy. This is called orchitis, and there is no evidence that this affects fertility. For women, there is a possibility of inflammation of the ovaries or breasts.
In the case of pregnant women, there is a danger of a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage, but no observe red risk of malformation of the baby. Other risks include deafness and pancreatitis.
Treatment: There is no treatment for the illness, and the only recourse is to wait for the virus to run its course. Antibiotics and other medicines are not effective. Medical treatment concentrates on providing relief from the symptoms. If you haven’t already had the disease, it is recommended that you take the MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella) vaccine. General hygiene like washing hands before eating, avoiding contamination from others saliva helps in keep mumps, and many other airborne diseases, at bay.
