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VIII.92 - Mumps

from Part VIII - Major Human Diseases Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Kenneth F. Kiple
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
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Summary

Mumps (infectious parotitis; epidemic parotitis) is a common, acute, viral infectious disease, principally of children, with worldwide distribution. It is frequently clinically characterized by fever and painful enlargement of one or more salivary glands. Inapparent infection is common and occurs in about onethird of infections. Sometimes postpubertal males with mumps may develop painful swelling of the testicles, usually only on one side, with sterility an extremely rare complication. Mumps is a vaccinepreventable disease, but the vaccine is not yet widely used on a global basis.

Etiology and Epidemiology

Mumps is caused by the mumps virus, a member of the genus Paramyxovirus of the family Paramyxoviridae. Mumps virus has an irregular spherical shape averaging about 200 nanometers in diameter and contains a single-stranded RNA genome.

Mumps is a contagious disease, only slightly less contagious than rubella and measles, transmitted from infected persons to susceptible individuals by droplet spread and by direct contact with saliva. Mumps virus has also been shown to be transmitted across the placenta to the fetus. There is no natural reservoir for mumps other than human beings, which means that a continuous chain of susceptible contacts is necessary to sustain transmission. Although the period of communicability may be from 6 days before salivary gland symptoms to 9 days afterwards, the period of greatest infectivity is about 48 hours before salivary gland involvement. There is no carrier state. Mumps has an incubation period from time of exposure to onset of salivary gland swelling of about 18 days with a range of 2 to 3 weeks.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

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References

Amstey, Marvin S., ed. 1984. Virus infection in pregnancy. New York.Google Scholar
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Gordon, John E., and Heeren, Ralph H.. 1940. The epidemiology of mumps. American Journal of the Medical Sciences 200.Google Scholar
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Hamilton, Robert. 1790. An account of a distemper, by the common people in England vulgarly called the mumps. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Henle, G., et al. 1948. Isolation of mumps virus from human beings with induced apparent or inapparent infections. Journal of Experimental Medicine 88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsch, August. 1886. Handbook of historical and geographical pathology, trans. Creighton, Charles. London.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. D., and Goodpasture, E. W.. 1934. An investigation of the etiology of mumps. Journal of Experimental Medicine 59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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  • Mumps
  • Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
  • Book: The Cambridge World History of Human Disease
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521332866.154
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  • Mumps
  • Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
  • Book: The Cambridge World History of Human Disease
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521332866.154
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Mumps
  • Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
  • Book: The Cambridge World History of Human Disease
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521332866.154
Available formats
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