This is a viral disease whose attack is characterized by painful and swollen salivary glands and pain in the testicles for the human males. Today, it has a vaccination that is given in childhood and it has done much to curb this illness but still, there are some areas where it is still persistent while also in the advanced countries, it might recur. It is caused by the mumps virus. Even if detected and diagnosed in good time, it usually results to infertility among men. Apart from the administration of pain killers to relieve pain, the disease will usually run its full course and then go on its own. There is no known cure for it.
It is easy to detect mumps because once the doctor suspects, they will prod the parotid glands gently with their fingers to confirm their suspicions. Other accompanying symptoms may include a dry and sore mouth. Intense pain may also be experienced when chewing and swallowing. The condition may be aggravated by cold sometimes and usually comes accompanied by fever and headaches. In males, it causes painful swelling in the testicles, a condition that is clinically referred to as orchitis. When the case is to the extreme, it causes a swollen face either on the left or the right side. In advanced situation of the disease, it causes swollen ears and eyes that are painful to the touch. At times, loss of voice may occur.
If a family member becomes infected with mumps, it would be safe to quarantine him/her in their room because the disease is transmitted through bodily contact with the sick. If the sick person sneezes or coughs, the virus may enter through the eyes and transmit the disease. Keep the sick person isolated until he/ she is well as they could bring the whole family down with it. At no time should you get into bodily contact with them. One can get the disease from the sick person anywhere within 30 days since the onset of the symptoms. After the disease passes, the body of the victim is left with immunity against it for the rest of their life, meaning that even if they get into contact with a sick person, they would not go down with it.
There is no known cure except that prevention is given through the childhood vaccination where milder strains of the mumps virus are passed into the body to provoke the immune system to produce antibodies that fight the disease causing virus. This way, the body defense is alerted ‘of the diseases vulnerability and can fight the virus as soon as they enter the body, without the person even noticing. When sick, the patient is advised to avoid fruits, soda or other acidic drinks that provoke the glands as this may result to pain. It is not advisable to go and see an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist because generally, it is not an ENT infection and these organs should get well when one is healed of the disease.
