Causes Of Mumps Illness
Mumps is an ailment caused by a virus. It is characterized by swelling of the salivary glands which can be very painful. The inflammation can also be observed in other parts of the body, including the testes in men. Young men and boys who contract mumps have a high likelihood of having fertility problems later in life.
Vaccines For Mumps
Vaccines against mumps have already been developed and improved, ensuring that mumps should not be a problem anymore. Still, there are those areas which do not have access to this vaccine yet so that people living there continue to have a high risk of developing mumps.
In fact, the ailment is still considered as a serious problem in many third world countries.
How Mumps Are Spread
- Mumps is basically caused by the mumps virus and is spread through a person’s saliva. When a person inhales droplets in the air that was either sneezed or coughed out by an infected person, he or she may develop the symptoms that are associated with mumps.
- Unless a person is immunized, kissing a person with the ailment is sure to give the ailment to him or her. Mumps is transferred by way of an infected person’s saliva and kissing is a sure way to directly come in contact with another person’s saliva.
- The patient might not easily tell if a person has mumps since not all people develop the symptoms that point to this ailment. The patient might get this ailment by kissing a kid or another person who has the virus. The person can also get this if he or she drinks from the same glass as this person or inhale air where this person has sneezed out or coughed out the virus.
- The time when a person can get mumps from a carrier extends far beyond or before the time when the person shows symptoms of the ailment. Thus, the patient can get mumps from a person nine days after he or she has the symptoms or even a week before symptoms of the ailment will actually begin to show.
- For the sake of preventing the spread of disease, it is best to remember that the patient can infect others in as early as 6 days before and as late as 9 days after the onset of the illness.
Treating Mumps
There really is no specific treatment for mumps. However, there is nothing much to worry about as it is a self-limiting infection. That means that it will clear out on its own even without intervention.
