Infection is by droplet spread or by direct contact with the saliva of an infected person.

From 12 to 25 days (on average, from 16 to 18 days).

Symptoms include headache and fever for a few days before swelling of the parotid glands. Thirty per cent of children have no symptoms.

Confirmation of diagnosis can be by oral fluid testing.

There is no specific treatment for mumps; treatment is based on alleviating symptoms. Encourage patients to drink lots of clear fluids to replace body water lost through fever. Paracetamol can be used to reduce the fever. (Aspirin should not be given to children, as its use is associated with Reye’s Syndrome - a severe neurological disorder.)

Yes, refer to your local policy/infection control team for further information.

Important complications of symptomatic mumps include swelling of the ovaries (oophoritis), testes (orchitis), aseptic meningitis and deafness. There is no firm evidence that orchitis causes sterility. Mumps was the commonest cause of viral meningitis in children before 1988 when the MMR vaccine was introduced.

Other symptoms may include pancreatitis, neuritis, arthritis, mastitis, nephritis, thyroiditis and pericarditis.

The mumps vaccine is one of the components of the MMR vaccine introduced in 1988. There are two licensed MMR vaccines: Priorix (GSK) and MMR II (Aventis Pasteur), both contain the Jeryl-Lynn strain of mumps.

MMR vaccine contains three live attenuated viruses, each vaccine virus will not replicate to a significant level in a host who has pre-existing immunity to that infection as a result of either vaccination or natural disease.

There is no upper age limit, and where necessary, two doses can be given separated by a three-month interval.

There is no single antigen mumps vaccine licensed in the UK and single mumps vaccine has never been used as part of the national immunisation schedule.

MMR is not given if the patient:

• has had a severe reaction to MMR
• is pregnant (women should avoid pregnancy for one month after MMR)
• has had an injection of immunoglobulin or other blood product in the previous three months
• reacts severely to neomycin or kanamycin
• has an untreated malignant disease or altered immunity.

Severe reactions should be reported via the yellow card scheme (www.yellowcard.gov.uk).