Mumps: A jaw titan

Earlier this year a Canadian news channel reported that five Canadian ice hockey players had been side-lined due to mumps. A quote from the press release stated, “We're taking this very seriously given how easily mumps can spread". One player’s jaw was so swollen that he assumed it was broken.

Mumps is a contagious disease caused by Mumps rubulavirus of the Paramyxoviridae family. The virus is spread amongst humans through direct contact or by airborne droplets. Infection is mostly characterised by the development of a tender, painful, swollen jaw due to the swelling of the parotid glands. Other milder symptoms include headache, fever and loss of appetite. Both adults and children can be infected; however, infection in adults is often more significant and can result in further complications such as deafness, mastitis, orchitis and meningitis.

In the United Kingdom a national vaccine programme for mumps exists and is currently delivered as a component of the trivalent measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The MMR vaccine is administered in two doses, the first of which is given at 12 to 13 months of age. Between 2015 and 2016 the National MMR vaccination coverage in England was estimated to be 91.9%². Mumps remains a notifiable infection in the UK with high profile outbreaks being associated with festivals and within certain high risk populations^{3, 4}. In 2016 a total of 5135 cases were reported to Public Health England (PHE) and there is now strong evidence that complications from mumps has decreased in England due to introduction of the vaccine and improved diagnostics⁵.

A number of mumps virus strains of differing genotypes have recently been added to the NCPV catalogue to assist researchers in the study of these viruses. 

References

1. 5 Vancouver Canucks side lined due to mumps. Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/5-vancouver-canucks-sidelined-due-to-mumps-1.3998731

2. NHS Immunisation Statistics England, 2015-16 Screening & Immunisations Team, NHS Digital
3. NOIDs WEEKLY REPORT. STATUTORY NOTIFICATIONS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES WEEK 2016/52 week ending 01/01/2017. Public Health England. Page 2.
4. le Polain de Waroux O, Saliba V, Cottrell S, Young N, Perry M, Bukasa A, Ramsay M, Brown K, Amirthalingam G. Summer music and arts festivals as hot spots for measles transmission: experience from England and Wales, June to October 2016. Euro Surveill. 2016 Nov 3;21(44).
5. Iro MA, Sadarangani M, Goldacre R, Nickless A, Pollard AJ, Goldacre MJ. 30-year trends in admission rates for encephalitis in children in England and effect of improved diagnostics and measles-mumps-rubella vaccination: a population-based observational study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2017 Apr;17(4):422-430.