Clinical Information

The mumps virus is a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA paramyxovirus belonging to the Rubulavirus family. Symptoms of infection include painful swollen salivary glands (parotitis), fever, headache, muscle aches, weakness, and fatigue. Complications may include pancreatitis, orchitis, encephalitis, meningitis, or hearing loss. Oftentimes, mumps is diagnosed based on the characteristic swollen salivary glands. The mumps virus is spread person-to-person through contact with infected respiratory droplets or saliva. It can also be transmitted by direct contact with contaminated fomites. Laboratory diagnosis of mumps cases can be through serologic detection of mumps-specific IgM antibodies, molecular detection of mumps virus RNA, or viral culture. The use of real-time polymerase chain reaction assays can provide more rapid laboratory confirmation of mumps shortly after symptom onset compared to serologic testing and provides a shorter turnaround time than viral culture. Buccal swabs are the preferred specimen type for the detection of mumps virus, but urine may also be collected for viral detection.