Mumps disease

27.03.2024

Mumps disease

Why in the  news?

  According to recent reports, mumps has been spreading like wildfire in Kerala for the last few months.

Important points:

• Sporadic cases started being reported in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts of Kerala around November 2023, since then it has also spread to Palakkad and Thrissur.
• Not just Kerala, a resurgence in cases is also being reported from many states including Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
• Despite being a preventable disease, mumps has never been part of the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) because the disease has no mortality rate.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccination strategies targeting mumps control should be closely integrated with existing measles elimination and rubella control.

About mumps:

• Mumps is a self-limited, airborne viral disease, an acute viral infection that historically affects children.
• It most commonly presents in children and adolescents as fever and headache, accompanied by painful swelling of the salivary glands (parotid glands) on either side of the face.
• There is no specific treatment and the patient recovers in about two weeks with rest and symptomatic management.
• Because only about half of infected children develop classical disease and about 30% have no symptoms, most cases go unreported.
• The other important complication posed by mumps is the effect of the virus on the gonads (reproductive glands) in both men and women.
• In men, it presents a rare but distinct possibility of long-term infertility or a decline in sperm count.
• Health officials believe that creating public awareness about this disease and the importance of isolation is the most important tool in reducing the transmission of this disease.
• Transmission of this disease actually begins before symptoms appear and it is necessary to isolate the patient for three full weeks to limit the spread of the disease.

                                       Source: Times of India