Overview
Clinical Meaning
Mumps is an acute systemic viral infection caused by the mumps virus, an enveloped, negative sense, single stranded RNA virus in the Paramyxoviridae family.
Mumps is an acute systemic viral infection caused by the mumps virus, an enveloped, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus in the Paramyxoviridae family. It spreads through respiratory droplets and infected saliva. After entering through the respiratory tract, the virus can disseminate beyond the salivary glands, which explains why a patient who presents with facial swelling may later develop neurological, gonadal, pancreatic, or cardiac complications. The incubation period is 12–25 days, averaging 16–18 days. A person may transmit the virus from approximately two days before symptoms begin until five days after parotid swelling appears. The infectious period can therefore begin before the diagnosis is suspected. Parotitis is the recognizable clinical pattern: painful swelling in front of and below the ear, often with tenderness that increases during chewing, swallowing, or eating acidic foods. Swelling may begin on one side and become bilateral over the next several days. As the parotid gland enlarges, it can push the earlobe upward and outward. That finding supports parotid involvement, but it does not confirm mumps; other infectious and obstructive causes of parotid swelling remain possible. Not every...