345 - Mumps

Abstract

Mumps, an acute illness caused by a paramyxovirus, is transmitted through direct contact with respiratory droplets or saliva from an infected person. Although the disease commonly presents as parotitis or other salivary gland swelling, it can also cause more severe complications, including aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, hearing loss, and orchitis or oophoritis. Before the introduction of mumps vaccination, the disease was common, and approximately 90% of the population was seropositive by adolescence. In the United States, the implementation of a 1-dose (78% effective) mumps vaccine policy in 1977 and a 2-dose (88% effective) measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine policy in 1989 led to a substantial reduction in the number of mumps cases. Although vaccinated persons are at lower risk for developing mumps and its complications, persons who have received two doses of MMR may still develop mumps and transmit it to others. In recent years, mumps has resurged, thereby prompting public health officials to develop new guidelines for the administration of a third dose of MMR during mumps outbreaks.