Kids Health Care-About Mumps(Kids Disease)

Mumps-Kids Health Care

Mumps: – An infection that makes the face and throat swell up. It caused by the mumps virus. It mainly affects the salivary glands but sometimes other parts of the body are affected. Mumps normally affects children, but can occur at any age.

- Dry mouth, making chewing swallowing difficult
- Fever
- Swollen glands behind the ears.

Your child’s body will naturally produce antibodies to fight off the infection. Keep your child away from others, as mumps is very infectious. Make sure you reduce any fever with paracetamol or ibuprofen liquid, make sure your child drinks plenty of water.

Most children are back to normal within 7-10 days

Immunisation means that mumps is now very rare. However, it is most common in young children.

Providing your child has been immunised, it’s fine if they avoid the illness. It is generally more serious if an adult contracts mumps.

Symptoms of Mumps:-

Swelling and pain of one or both parotid glands are the usual main symptoms. (The parotid glands are the main salivary glands. They are just below the ears and you cannot normally see or feel them. The salivary glands make saliva which drains into the mouth.)

The mouth may feel dry.

Chewing and swallowing may be sore.

Fever (temperature), headache, feeling tired and being off food may develop for a few days.

Mild abdominal (tummy) pain may occur.

The swelling of the parotid glands usually lasts 4-8 days. Mumps is normally a mild illness, but complications sometimes occur. This is why immunisation is important.

There may be no symptoms, or only very minor ones. It is thought that about 3 in 10 people who contract the mumps virus have no symptoms. Rarely, complications alone occur without the usual symptoms occurring first.

The immune system makes antibodies during the infection. These clear the virus and then provide lifelong immunity. It is therefore very rare to have more than one episode of mumps.

There is no drug that kills the mumps virus. Treatment aims to ease symptoms until the body’s immune system clears the virus.

• You do not need any treatment if symptoms are mild.
• Paracetamol (Calpol, Disprol, etc) can ease fever and pain. Ibuprofen is an alternative.
• Keep children cool if they have a fever.
• Give children lots to drink, particularly if they have a fever. Fruit juice may stimulate the parotid gland to make more saliva, and cause more pain. Water is best if this occurs.
• A warm flannel held against a painful parotid gland is soothing.

Most children are back to normal within 7-10 days. Seek medical help if you suspect that a complication is developing (described above).

Mumps is very infectious. It is passed on by coughing and sneezing the virus into the air. It takes 14-21 days to develop symptoms after being infected. Affected people are infectious from about six days before, until about five days after, a parotid gland begins to swell. It is best not to mix with others once mumps is suspected.

Children immunised against mumps are unlikely to catch mumps. However, immunisation is not 100% effective. Also, some adults may not be immune and some children may have a poor immune system. So keep children with mumps away from school, and from others, for five days from the onset of parotid gland swelling.

Link:- http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/health/184555/Kids–health—common-conditions–Mumps