Tue 9 February 2010
The vaccines > MMR > The diseases
Mumps
Mumps is caused by a virus which can lead to fever, headache, and painful, swollen glands in the face, neck and jaw. It can result in permanent deafness, viral meningitis (swelling of the lining of the brain) and encephalitis. Rarely, it causes painful swelling of the testicles in males and the ovaries in females.
Mumps lasts about seven to ten days. Before the MMR vaccine was introduced, about 1200 people a year in the UK went into hospital because of mumps.
Mumps is spread in the same way as measles. It is about as infectious as flu.
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