Mumps spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
The mumps virus can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite and swollen glands under the ears or jaw.
In some cases, the mumps virus can cause serious, long lasting problems like deafness, infection of the brain or spinal cord, swelling of the testicles or ovaries or even death.
The mumps virus is contagious and spreads easily through coughing and sneezing.
While the number of mumps cases in the US is low, outbreaks have occurred on college campuses..
The vaccine for mumps also protects against measles and rubella.
Vaccine Recommendations
All children should get two doses of MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) or MMRV (measles-mumps-rubella-varicella) vaccine starting at age 1 year to protect against measles. Some teens and adults may also need MMR vaccine if they did not get two doses when they were younger.
