Mumps Health Dictionary

Parotitis. Inflammation of the salivary glands with painful swelling in front of the ears, caused by a virus. Common, children. In adults, mumps may include inflammation of the testicles in men which may lead to sterility; or of the ovaries in women; or of the pancreas in both sexes. A notifiable disease. Symptoms: fever, malaise, headache, one or two days before sudden rise in temperature to about 40°C (104°F).

Treatment. Maintain adequate fluid intake.

Tea. Formula. Angelica 2; Centuary 1; Marigold 1. 2 teaspoons to each cup boiling water; infuse 15 minutes. Add pinch Cayenne. Quarter-1 cup every 2 hours, according to age. Where recovery is tardy, add 3-4 drops Spearmint oil.

With nervousness: add 1 part skullcap.

With swollen testicles or ovarian involvement: Agnus Castus.

Absence of urine: Yarrow.

Alternative formula:– Echinacea 2; Poke root 1; Yarrow 2. Dose: Liquid Extracts: one 5ml teaspoon. Tinctures: two 5ml teaspoons. Powders: 500mg (two 00 capsules or one-third teaspoon). Children: 1 drop for each year to age of 5; 2 drops thereafter to age of 10. Thrice daily.

Tablets/capsules. Poke root. Echinacea.

Malecite Indians: Cramp bark. Echinacea. Decoction.

European traditional. Balm tea, internally, half-1 cup freely. Externally to bathe face and genitals. Tinctures: Formula. Equal parts: Pulsatilla, Ginkgo, Vinca major. Adults: 1-2 teaspoons in water thrice daily. Children: 1 drop for each year to 5 years; thereafter 2 drops each year to 12.

Metastasis. Equal parts, Liquid Extracts. Pulsatilla (testes and mammae); Skullcap (Brain); Vinca major (pancreas). Dosage as Liquid Extract.

Gargle. 5-10 drops Tincture Myrrh in glass of water freely.

Hot compress. St John’s Wort oil to neck or face (Dr A. Vogel).

Poultice to reduce swelling: fresh Mullein leaves.

Vitamins. A. B-complex, C. D. E.

Minerals. Calcium. Iodum. Zinc. Dolomite.

To be treated by or in liaison with a qualified medical practitioner. 

An acute viral illness, mainly of childhood. The main symptom is inflammation and swelling of one or both of the parotid glands situated inside the angle of the jaw. One attack of mumps confers lifelong immunity. Since routine MMR vaccination, epidemics of mumps no longer occur.

The mumps virus is spread in airborne droplets. The incubation period is 2–3 weeks; an affected person is infectious for about a week before and up to 2 weeks after symptoms appear.

Infected children often have no symptoms, or they may feel slightly unwell and have some discomfort around the parotid glands. In more serious cases, there is pain around the glands and chewing becomes difficult; one or both glands then become swollen, painful, and tender. A fever and headache may develop. The swelling subsides within a week to 10 days. When only one gland is affected, the second often swells as the first gland’s swelling subsides. Complications of mumps include viral meningitis, pancreatitis, and epididymo-orchitis.

Diagnosis is usually made from the symptoms. There is no specific treatment.

Mumps, also known as epidemic parotitis, is an infectious disease characterised by in?ammatory swelling of the PAROTID GLAND and other SALIVARY GLANDS – often occurring as an EPIDEMIC and affecting mostly young people. Its name comes from the old verb, ‘mump’, meaning to mope or assume a disconsolate appearance – an apt description of the victim of the disease at its height.

Causes Mumps is due to infection with a virus and is highly infectious from person to person. It is predominantly a disease of childhood and early adult life, but it can occur at any age. Epidemics usually occur in the winter and spring. It is infectious for two or three days before the swelling of the glands appears. A vaccine is now available that gives a high degree of protection against the disease, the incidence of which is falling sharply. The vaccine is combined with those for MEASLES and RUBELLA – see MMR VACCINE; IMMUNISATION.

Symptoms There is an incubation period of 2–3 weeks after infection before the glands begin to swell. The gland ?rst affected is generally the parotid, situated in front of and below the ear. The swelling usually spreads to the submaxillary and sublingual glands lying beneath the jaw. The patient is feverish and the gland is tender. The swelling disappears after about ?ve days. In 15–30 per cent of males, in?ammation of the testicles (orchitis) develops. This usually occurs during the second week of the illness, but may not occur until 2–3 weeks later; it may result in partial ATROPHY of the testicles, but practically never in INFERTILITY. In a much smaller proportion of females with mumps, in?ammation of the OVARIES or BREASTS may occur. In?ammation of the PANCREAS, accompanied by tenderness in the upper part of the abdomen and digestive disturbances, sometimes results, and MENINGITIS is also an occasional complication. The various complications are found much more often when the disease affects adults than when it occurs in childhood.

Treatment There is no speci?c treatment but ANALGESICS and plenty of ?uid should be available. The child may need to be in bed for a few days and should not return to school until the symptoms have settled. Adults with orchitis may need strong painkillers, and CORTICOSTEROIDS may be required to reduce the painful swelling.

Epidemic parotitis, an acute infectious disease caused by a virus

An acute infectious disease, caused by a paramyxovirus, and most common in children. Although it usually infects the parotid glands, and is often only a mild condition, it CAN spread to the testes or ovaries, particularly when contracted by unresistant adults, and a mild child’s infection that is not properly honored by R&R always holds the potential for pancreatic or meningeal complications.

n. a common virus infection mainly affecting school-age children. Symptoms appear 2–3 weeks after exposure: fever, headache, and vomiting may precede a typical swelling of the *parotid salivary glands. The gland on one side of the face often swells up days before the other but sometimes only one side is affected. The symptoms usually vanish within three days, the patient remaining infectious until the swelling has completely disappeared, but the infection may spread to other salivary glands and to the pancreas, brain (causing an aseptic meningitis), and testicles (after puberty mumps affecting the testicles can cause sterility). Vaccination against mumps provides effective immunity (see MMR vaccine). Medical name: infectious parotitis.