Signs and symptoms
Typical symptoms include fever (low-grade – 38.3°C – or as high as 40.6°C), loss of appetite, and headache. One or two days after the onset of these symptoms, one or more of the salivary glands become painfully swollen; the swelling lasts about a week.
The diagnosis of a typical case of mumps is obvious from the swelling of the parotid salivary gland that lies behind, below, and in front of the earlobe. Only a swelling of the parotid gland has the ear-lobe as its center. Other salivary glands, such as the salivary glands which lie under the edge of the jaw, may be swollen with or without swelling of the parotids. Swelling may occur on one or both sides of the face.
Accurately diagnosing mumps may be difficult if complications of mumps develop before, or sometimes even without, swelling of the salivary glands. If the pancreas or ovaries are involved, the child will have abdominal pain. If the testes are involved, they will be swollen and tender. Encephalitis has symptoms of stiff neck, headache, and fever. In the absence of swollen salivary glands, these other symptoms may be difficult to link with mumps.
Home care
Rest and isolation are recommended until all symptoms have gone. Aspirin or paracetamol may be given to reduce pain and fever. Avoid feeding the child spicy foods.
Precautions
• Routine immunization against mumps is strongly advised.
• If a mother is immune to mumps (because she has had it or has been vaccinated against it), her baby acquires some temporary immunity before birth. This immunity lasts only until the infant is four to six months old.
• In an adult man, inflammation of the testes caused by mumps can result in sterility – the inability to conceive a child. That is why it is important for males to be vaccinated against mumps in childhood.
• Attacks that seem to recur are not due to mumps but to inflammation of the parotid salivary gland, a stone in the salivary duct, or a bacterial infection of the gland. These disorders should be reported to your doctor.
Medical treatment
If complications are suspected, your doctor may order a spinal tap to test for meningitis or encephalitis or blood tests to measure the number of mumps antibodies in the blood. (Antibodies are protective substances that the body produces to fight against disease.) Doctors do not follow any specific treatment for mumps, but may hospitalize a child if necessary to arrive at a diagnosis or to provide supportive treatment.
An unvaccinated child may receive mumps vaccine shortly after exposure to the disease to prevent mumps.
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