Mumps is a viral infection causing tender, swollen salivary glands. Vaccines have protected children from the misery of mumps. Research is continuing to develop vaccines that are even more effective and better tolerated.
Disease: Mumps
Last update: June 2006
Intro
FAQ
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What is it?
Mumps is a viral infection which results most commonly in tender, swollen salivary glands. Mumps can also affect the testicles. Patients can also present pancreatic, kidney and central nervous problems.
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Who gets it?
Mumps usually occurs in children and teenagers between the ages of five and nineteen years. It may also affect adults. It is estimated to affect annually between 100 and 1,000 people per 100,000 inhabitants, with epidemic peaks.
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What can be done about it?
There are no specific treatments for mumps. Pain-relieving medicines are given. However, the development and use of vaccines, first introduced in the 1960s, has been a notable success of the research of the pharmaceutical industry. Where the vaccine has been used in enough people, the number of cases has been considerably reduced.
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What does the future hold?
Pharmaceutical researchers are working to develop more effective vaccines and to see if these can be given by an aerosol delivered to the respiratory tract, rather than by traditional injection. Work is also under way to understand how the virus enters human cells. Once this is known, it may be possible to devise new medicines and new vaccines to prevent the infection.