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Measles Mumps Symptoms

     The mumps virus belongs to the Paramyxovirum family. In fact the measles virus also belongs to the same family.

     The word mumps comes from the British word “to mump” which means to grin or grimace. When a person contracts mumps, the parotid gland swells up and this swelling can end up lasting for more than two days.

      The paramyxovirus is usually present in the infected person’s body fluids which include cerebro-spinal fluid, saliva, urine and blood. Mumps is highly contagious and is transmitted from the infected person when the person breathes or coughs. Even the urine of the infected person can be a possible source of infection.

        Mumps infects the upper and lower respiratory tact and from there the virus spreads to the lymphoid tissue which in turn leads to viremia. The virus then spreads to a number of other places in the body namely the salivary glands, other glands as well as other body parts including the meninges.

Mumps Symptoms
The average time mumps to manifest itself is approximately 2 to 3 weeks and during the initial stages people might suffer from fever, anorexia, malaise and myalgia. Nearly 20 percent of patients show no symptoms while half of the infected people just end up having respiratory problems.

However, mumps is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Painful swelling of the parotid glands that lasts for around 7 to 10 days.
• Aseptic meningitis can occur but this is usually mild. Men are three times more prone to meningitis than women.
• Sometimes mumps is characterized by deafness but this is very rare. If deafness occurs, it may improve with time but usually it is permanent.
• Adult and adolescent males may suffer from severe testicular inflammation. This can occur along with the swelling of the parotid glands. The testicular swelling usually decreases in 7 days but the tenderness can last for weeks.






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