Mumps used to be a very common disease of childhood. It was also a common disease that would affect a military army engaged in a combat zone. In World War I, mumps was the leading cause of soldier hospitalization. When an infection is active, it causes the salivary glands to become swollen and a headache or fever is also common. In most cases, mumps is fairly mild. It’s the dangerous cases of the disease that could kill people that caused a vaccination to be developed for it. Here are some of the interesting facts you need to know about mumps.
1. It Can Also Affect the Brain
The reason why vaccinations are necessary against mumps is because about 10% of cases wind up developing meningitis. That means that the spinal cord and even the brain become inflamed like the salivary glands do when an infection is live. Mumps also has the ability to cause encephalitis, which means the brain itself becomes fully inflamed and even swells up. Most children can recover from this issue without any damage.
2. It May Cause Hearing Loss
The chances of dying from mumps are actually better at 1:10k than losing all hearing 1:20k, but both are serious events. Because mumps is so easy to transmit, a vaccination really is the best line of defense against the disease. All someone needs to do is talk to another person when an infection is active and that’s enough to spread the disease. It can up to 3 weeks for the disease to incubate and most people are contagious about a week before they begin to see symptoms.
3. You Can Get The Mumps and Never Know You Had It
One of the unique features about this disease is that about 35% of people who get it never have any physical symptoms. This means that spreading mumps to others becomes even easier to do because someone might talk, cough, or sneeze and not every know that they’ve put people at risk. Half of the people who get mumps wind up with non-specific symptoms. Infection of the salivary glands does not always happen either.
4. The Mumps Vaccine Is Extremely Effective
The vaccine for mumps is usually the MMR vaccine, which also protects against measles and rubella. Most people have minimal side effects from the vaccine, which are swelling at the injection site and some redness or a mild fever. Some women get joint pain and stiffness for a week or two after receiving the vaccine because of the rubella portion of it.
5. The US Has Seen Two Major Outbreaks of the Disease Since 2006
The first outbreak was in young adults below the age of 24. The second outbreak was seen in kids who were in the 9-17 age demographic. Because of these outbreaks and the fact that some people were up to date with their immunizations, new recommendations are being considered for adult immunizations so that antibodies can continue to thrive.
Mumps is usually not much of an issue, but it can be. Because of that risk, no matter how small that risk might be, it is important to be vaccinated against this disease.