How to Prevent Mumps

Mumps, commonly known as mumps, is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by mumps virus infection. Its clinical features are non-suppurative inflammation of the parotid gland and swelling and pain in the parotid area. It mainly occurs in children and adolescents. In addition to invading the parotid gland, the mumps virus can also invade the nervous system and various glandular tissues, causing meningitis and meningoencephalitis in children, and orchitis, oophoritis and pancreatitis after puberty.

Winter and spring are the seasons when mumps is rampant, and humans are the only source of infection. The main population affected is children under 15 years old, among which children aged 5 to 9 have the highest incidence rate. Kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools are the main places where mumps public health emergencies occur.

1 Why are mumps outbreaks more likely to occur in primary and secondary schools?

1) People are generally susceptible to infection, especially children who have no natural immunity to the mumps virus;

2) Mumps is a respiratory infectious disease, mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets, so the virus is easily transmitted;

3) Crowded classrooms and poor ventilation make it difficult for droplets and viruses to spread, and children generally have low immunity;

4) A very small part of the virus may be transmitted through contact. Children in school play with each other, share many items, and have many opportunities for contact. Close contact between children may also be contagious.

The above factors may increase the chances of children being infected, so we urge teachers and parents to pay attention and take active prevention and control measures.

2How is mumps spread?

Mumps is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract, and the virus can be present in the patient's saliva and respiratory secretions, and can be spread through the air or droplets. It can also be transmitted indirectly through clothes, toys or public utensils contaminated by the saliva of the infected person.

Susceptible people usually become ill within 2-3 weeks after contact with a patient.

3What are the symptoms of mumps?

The main symptom of mumps is swelling at the base of one or both earlobes. The swollen parotid gland is often hemispherical, with diffuse swelling centered on the earlobe and obvious tenderness. The pain worsens when chewing or eating acidic foods.

In addition to the swelling and pain in the parotid area, most patients with mumps also have fever symptoms, with a body temperature of around 38°C, which is intermittent. If there are no complications, it can heal itself in about a week.

4What are the complications of mumps?

Mumps itself is not a serious disease, but complications can be serious.

➤ When children with mumps have symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting, and fever, they need to be alert to pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening in severe cases.

➤ If your child has a headache, persistent fever, vomiting, poor spirits, or even convulsions, you need to be alert to viral encephalitis;

➤When girls experience abdominal pain, they need to be alert to oophoritis;

➤When a boy has a fever and his testicles are swollen and painful, he should be alert to orchitis. If bilateral orchitis occurs, it may lead to infertility in adulthood.

5How to prevent mumps?

Currently, vaccination with mumps-containing vaccines is an effective means of preventing mumps.

Patients should be isolated according to respiratory infectious diseases until 5 days after the swelling of the parotid gland subsides. Since the patient has begun to excrete the virus several days before the onset of symptoms, the focus of prevention is to use vaccines to actively immunize susceptible people. At present, the triple attenuated live vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella is used at home and abroad for subcutaneous or intradermal inoculation, and nasal spray or mist method can also be used. More than 95% can produce antibodies. Vaccination of patients in the incubation period can alleviate the symptoms of the disease. Because of the possible teratogenic effect, it is forbidden for pregnant women. Severe systemic immune damage is relatively contraindicated, but the use of mumps vaccine to immunize asymptomatic children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is recognized. According to my country's child immunization program, children aged 18 to 24 months should routinely receive a dose of measles-mumps-rubella combined vaccine (MMR), but the disease prevention effect of vaccinating with a dose of mumps-containing vaccine is limited. It is recommended that children receive another dose of mumps-containing vaccine before entering elementary school.

Carry out education on mumps knowledge, especially to let patients and their families understand the pathogenic factors, transmission routes, complications, prevention and treatment methods of the disease, so that they can better cooperate with treatment, thereby achieving the goal of promoting patient recovery and controlling the spread of the disease.

Popular Science Doctor: Chen Xiaoli

Workplace: Xiyangdian Town Health Center, Pingyu County, Henan Province