General Information on Mumps

Description and Symptoms

Mumps, a vaccine-preventable disease, is an acute viral infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms, which can take from 12 to 25 days to develop, include fever, headache, muscle ache and swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands at the angle of the jaw (parotitis). Infection occurs through direct contact with respiratory droplets from the nose or throat, through saliva, coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks, kissing or from contact with surfaces that have been contaminated with the mumps virus. Rarely, mumps infection can lead to meningitis, inflammation of the testicles (orchitis) or ovaries (oophoritis), inflammation of the pancreas and transient or permanent hearing loss.

As many as 20% of infectious cases do not present symptoms of disease and nearly half of infections are associated with non-specific or primarily respiratory symptoms, with or without swelling.

Prevention

Mumps is a vaccine-preventable disease. Canadians are reminded to keep all vaccinations up-to-date. Two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are recommended. Speak to your health-care provider about immunization. Recommendations on vaccine use from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization are available on the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website (www.naci.gc.ca).

The mumps virus can be spread for about seven days before symptoms (swelling of salivary glands) appear and up to nine days after. Individuals are advised to stay home from work, school, public places and other social settings for nine days after the start of symptoms or until symptoms are no longer present. Public health authorities in several provinces and territories have implemented information campaigns to advise patients, the general public and health-care providers on appropriate mumps control measures. For example, see some of the information prepared by the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection or consult a public health professional or health-care provider.

The following precautions can assist in preventing and controlling the spread of the mumps virus:

• Avoid direct contact, including sharing saliva (e.g., kissing), with someone diagnosed or suspected of having mumps
• Wash your hands often and/or use hand sanitizer
• Avoid shared drinking glasses or eating utensils
• Cover your mouth with a tissue or your forearm when you cough or sneeze.

Occurrence - 1950s to 2006

Since the approval of mumps vaccine in Canada in 1969, the number of mumps cases decreased from an average of 34,000 cases reported per year in the early 1950s to fewer than 300 cases per year in the early 1990s. A further reduction in incidence was observed following the introduction, in 1996-97, of the routine second dose of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine by most provinces and territories for measles control.

During the period 2000-2006, an annual average of 79 mumps cases was reported, ranging from 28 in 2003 to 202 cases in 2002. From 1996 to 2006, Canada experienced 5 mumps outbreaks; the number of cases ranged from 13 to nearly 200 (Table 1). These outbreaks primarily involved pre-school or school-aged children, adolescents, and young adults.^4,5,6,7

The age distribution of mumps in Canada has changed over time. The proportion of reported cases aged 20 years and older increased from 14% in 1988-1990 to 64% in 2003-2005. Conversely, the proportion of cases aged 1-9 years fell from 49% to 17% during the same period (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Proportion of Reported Mumps Cases by Age, 3-year averages, Canada,
1988-2005