Surely many mothers, in whose families boys grow up, know about such a disease as mumps. After all, boys are affected twice as often as girls. And those who have no idea what kind of disease it is and treat it carelessly, refusing to vaccinate their child, are simply obliged to get to know this disease better. So what is parotitis? What are the causes of this disease, features of the course and treatment? You will find all this in our article.
What is mumps?
In the common people, the mumps disease (the photo of the patient is presented above) is called "mumps", because when infected, severe swelling occurs in the neck and behind the ears. It is considered mainly a childhood illness. But it is impossible to exclude the risk of mumps in adults. The disease itself was mentioned as early as the 5th century BC. e., but all the information about what mumps is and what its symptoms appeared only in the 20th century.
This is an acute infectious disease caused by a virus calledparamyxovirus. It is extremely unstable and can be easily destroyed by boiling or ultraviolet radiation. But paramyxovirus is resistant to cold conditions, that is, it can be stored for a long time at temperatures up to minus 70-80 degrees Celsius. The most typical manifestation of this disease is inflammation of the salivary glands, resulting in their increase. Parotitis mainly affects children from 3-15 years. There is an opinion that people get sick with mumps only once, since acquired immunity is considered lifelong, but cases of re-infection are not uncommon. In nature, this disease spreads only among people, so you can get infected only from a sick person, but not from wild and domestic animals.
Absolutely anyone who does not have immunity to this virus can get sick with mumps. After all, it occurs only in cases of vaccination, or in cases where a person has already had mumps. You can become infected with paramyxovirus either by airborne droplets or by contact, for example, a he althy child takes a toy in his mouth that a sick baby has recently licked.
Also, this disease is characterized by a season, especially frequent cases of infection occur in the spring, and at the end of summer, mumps is almost never recorded. The incubation period for children and adults is slightly different: for a child - from 12 to 23 days, and for adults - from 11 to 25 days.
Mumps is extremely dangerous for pregnant women, especially in the first trimester. Infection can lead to fetal fading or miscarriage. In the rest of the period, it is not so dangerous, but onthe last term can provoke pronounced jaundice in a newborn.
Disease classification
Mumps is divided into three forms according to the severity of the disease:
- Mild form is accompanied by a short-term fever and damage exclusively to the salivary glands.
- The moderate form is accompanied by general weakness, impaired appetite and sleep, prolonged fever and damage to other glandular organs.
- The severe form is characterized by damage to many glands, including the central nervous system. The temperature in severe parotitis can rise to 40 degrees. The risk of severe complications is high.
Also, this disease is divided into a typical and atypical form.
I. The typical form is characterized by clear signs. Moreover, it can be either isolated, when only signs of mumps appear, or combined, when the symptoms of mumps and other concomitant diseases are combined.
II. During the atypical form, there may be no symptoms at all.
The course of mumps also depends on the age of the patient. Children tolerate mumps much more easily than adults.
Causes of disease
As already mentioned, the main reason that causes parotitis is an infection, or rather a paramyxovirus. The gateway for its penetration is the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract, that is, infection occurs through talking, coughing or sneezing from a sick person. You can also pick up an infection through household items, that is, if the patient's saliva got on a towel,dishes, then after using them by a he althy person, the risk of infection increases.
After the virus enters the mucous membrane, it begins to accumulate there, and then enters the blood channel. And through the channel it spreads to all organs. The favorite place of the virus is the glandular organs, where it settles and begins to actively multiply. Of course, some of it also gets to other organs, but most often inflammation does not occur there. But our immune system always defends the body, and it begins to actively produce antibodies that bind the virus and remove it from the body. These antibodies remain in the human body for life and prevent re-infection.
Symptoms in children
Even if the child is already infected, at first everything happens as always, there are no signs that speak of the disease. But the very next day, the first signs of parotitis appear:
- Increase in body temperature to 38-39 degrees.
- Small runny nose, sore throat.
These symptoms can be confused with SARS. But after another day, with mumps, swelling of the salivary gland appears in the parotid zone, first on one side, and then the other side begins to swell. This whole process of inflammation of the glands is accompanied by dry mouth, an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity and soreness in the edema zone. In addition, it is difficult and painful for the child to chew food and talk. Since normal salivation is disturbed during mumps, and saliva has antibacterial properties, it is possible thatstomatitis on the oral mucosa.
If, along with the main symptoms of parotitis, there are also signs of indigestion, such as heaviness, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, then we can talk about damage to the pancreas.
If other glandular organs are attacked, then the symptoms of complicated parotitis are as follows:
- Girls experience inflammation of the ovaries, which is accompanied by pain in the lower abdomen, nausea and general malaise.
- Boys with complicated mumps develop testicular inflammation. There is redness and swelling in the scrotum. All this is accompanied by soreness.
The child may have a disease with erased symptoms, that is, a slight increase in temperature is likely, while no edema is observed. And the temperature disappears after three days. It happens that in a child parotitis is asymptomatic. This form of the disease does not carry any danger, only this child is considered contagious and can infect other children.
Symptoms in adults
The main symptoms of the disease in adults are similar to those in children, but in an adult, the risk of a more complex course of mumps is many times greater. The first signs of mumps in adults are:
- Chills.
- Headache.
- Muscle pain.
- Rhinitis.
- Cough and throat discomfort.
- Discomfort in the area where the salivary glands are located.
Further, swelling of the parotid is added to these symptomsareas, and adults are characterized by simultaneous inflammation of the salivary glands on both sides. Very often, the mumps virus affects the submandibular and sublingual glands. Puffiness accompanies a person for up to 10 days, then decreases. When chewing, the patient experiences pain, it is also difficult for a person to talk. In a dream, the patient cannot choose a sleeping position for a long time, since lying on his side becomes unpleasant, which is why a person develops insomnia during the period of illness. Salivation is severely impaired, resulting in xerostomia (dry mouth), in addition, impaired appetite. Such an acute period can last up to 4 days, gradually subsiding by the end of the week. In adults, a rash is likely to appear in the form of thick and red spots all over the body.
How is mumps diagnosed?
Many will think, what is so difficult in establishing such a diagnosis as mumps?! After all, all the signs are obvious when the face looks like a muzzle of a pig. But not always everything is so simple. The fact is that swelling of the salivary glands can accompany another disease. Therefore, only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis after an internal examination of the patient. In addition to a visual examination, the doctor asks the patient several questions that relate to his well-being and complaints, and also clarifies that the patient may have recently communicated with a patient with parotitis. Next, the doctor prescribes laboratory tests. As a rule, urine analysis in this case is not informative, it can only show that an infection is present in the body. The most modern method for determining mumps is the reactionimmunofluorescence. It allows you to get reliable results in the shortest possible time, namely after 2-3 days. They also use a method for determining the presence of antibodies to mumps.
Mumps treatment
As such, the treatment of this disease is not carried out, all efforts are rushed only to exclude the possibility of complications. As a rule, a patient with parotitis is not subject to hospitalization, except in cases where there are signs of an aggressive course of the disease. Therefore, if the patient has the following symptoms, you should immediately call an ambulance:
- Severe headaches.
- Nausea with vomiting.
- Convulsions.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Numbness in certain parts of the body.
- Hearing and visual impairments.
- Abdominal pain.
If the patient has a mild form of a disease such as parotitis, treatment is carried out at home. Doctor prescribes:
- Bed rest.
- Plentiful drink.
- A diet free of all artificial and harmful foods. Also, the food should be warm, soft, without spicy and fried.
- Rinsing the mouth with boiled water or boric acid solution.
- Antiviral drugs, immunomodulators, immunostimulants and antipyretics if high fever is present.
- It is also recommended to apply dry heat to the swollen area.
Severe mumps requires hospitalization. Depending on the type of complicationappropriate treatment is given.
When joining meningitis or polyneuropathy, the appointment of certain drugs is added to the above. In addition, strict bed rest is shown. Drugs are prescribed that improve cerebral blood flow. In order to avoid cerebral edema, glucocorticosteroid and detoxification therapy is mandatory. Vitamins E, PP-acids, C, B are also prescribed.
When joining pancreatitis, strict bed rest and a small "hunger strike" are also prescribed, which will last two days. During this time, the patient will receive nutrients intravenously. Then a special diet will be prescribed for the patient, which will exclude everything harmful. This diet will need to be followed for a year to eliminate the risk of diabetes.
In case of orchitis on the background of a disease such as parotitis, treatment is carried out with the use of corticosteroids.
Possible Complications
Most often, a disease such as parotitis is not life-threatening, but there are cases when serious complications are possible. They occur with weak protective functions of the body. Almost half of all sick boys over the age of 10 years are prone to complications after mumps in the form of orchitis (testicular inflammation). Orchitis is characterized by severe pain and redness in the scrotum, fever. This disease is especially dangerous for boys during puberty. If orchitis becomes severe, it will cause testicular atrophy andcause infertility. According to statistics, about 30% of young men who fell ill with mumps and orchitis at the same time remain infertile
Paramyxovirus can infect the pancreas, resulting in pancreatitis. Another common complication after mumps is meningitis, which, with timely treatment, has a favorable prognosis.
Rarer complications include:
- Oophoritis (inflammation of the ovaries, observed in girls).
- Thyroiditis (dysfunction of the thyroid gland).
- Acoustic nerve damage.
- Arthritis and polyarthritis.
- Myocarditis.
- Jade.
Very, very rare, but fatal cases do occur. It accounts for one in a hundred thousand, and is most often associated with the addition of a secondary infection or with a very severe course of the disease.
Preventive measures
Mumps is a highly contagious disease, so if symptoms of this disease occur, it is urgent to isolate the patient from others. In addition, vaccination is of particular importance in such a matter as the prevention of mumps. Unfortunately, the attitude of many mothers in our country to all kinds of vaccinations is negative. All children are vaccinated against measles, rubella, mumps, but it is not uncommon for a baby's mother to write a refusal to vaccinate. This is an unnecessary risk! Of course, every child has a different reaction to the vaccine. Mumps, meanwhile, can cause much more damage to he alth than vaccination. It is better to immediately introduce the required amount of vaccines than to regret laterwhat they didn't do. Timely vaccination (measles, mumps, rubella) will reduce the risk of infection by 98%. And this is a fairly high figure.
Under standard conditions, vaccination (measles, mumps, rubella) is given a year after birth. Before this period, vaccination is not carried out, since the baby is protected by maternal antibodies. Revaccination (measles, rubella, parotitis) is carried out at 6 years. Surely many are wondering why we are talking about rubella and measles?! The mumps vaccine usually contains antibodies against these diseases as well. After vaccination (rubella, measles, mumps), the reaction may be as follows: on about the 5th day there is an increase in temperature and a slight increase in the salivary glands. These symptoms last for a couple of days, after which the person develops immunity.
Remember, if your child is ill with a disease such as mumps, you should not worry about the opinions of others on the issue of vaccination or treatment, you must urgently take the child to the doctor. With untimely treatment, the disease can turn into a complicated form. Do not be afraid of the body's reaction to vaccination against diseases such as measles, rubella, mumps. Reviews, of course, can be confusing, but you are responsible for the he alth of your child, so you must take preventive measures.
The mumps vaccine is administered only to absolutely he althy children who have no contraindications. The main reasons a doctor may stop a vaccination include:
- Cold diseases.
- Under 1 year old.
- Increasedsensitivity to vaccine components. When a child is vaccinated against diseases such as rubella, measles, mumps, mothers' reviews of this vaccine are negative, since the child may have an increased sensitivity to the components of the vaccine, and the baby is difficult to tolerate vaccination.
- Hormonal treatment.
- Malignant tumors.
- Pregnancy.
It is important to know all about possible contraindications in advance so that the child does not have a negative reaction to the vaccine.
To prevent the spread of the disease, the following preventive measures must be observed:
- The patient must be isolated from others. Usually in kindergartens, a sick child is sent home, and the kindergarten is closed for quarantine for 3 weeks. If there are no new outbreaks of infection during this period, children can safely return to kindergarten.
- All items and toys need to be disinfected.
- The patient and those around him must wear medical masks.
- The room needs to be ventilated regularly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth noting that it is not the disease itself that is dangerous, but its possible complications and consequences. We hope you already have an idea of what parotitis is and how it manifests itself. Of course, today mumps is not some kind of plague, thanks to vaccination, but still cases of infection often occur. To protect yourself and protect your child, in almost 100% of cases of infection, you need to be vaccinated. Better choosea combination vaccine that includes antibodies to diseases such as measles, rubella, mumps. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
