Written by Patrick Tschida, DrPH

Mumps (also known as “infectious parotitis”) is a highly contagious, acute (short-term) infection caused by a virus.¹ It mainly affects children age 5 to 9 years old.

How Is Mumps Spread?

Someone who has mumps can spread it by:

• coughing or sneezing, which spreads particles (containing the virus) through the air where others can breathe it in
• sharing eating utensils or cups
• direct or close contact with others.

What Are Symptoms of Mumps?

Mumps is characterized by fever, swelling, and the tenderness of one or more salivary glands that are located near your jaw and cheeks.Symptoms of mumps include:

• pain or swelling on one or both sides of the face
• fever, headache, and muscle aches
• difficulty chewing or swallowing.

About one out of every three people who have mumps will not have any signs or symptoms of illness.

Can Mumps Cause Complications?

In some cases, mumps has caused complications including:

• repeated sore throats
• tonsil swelling or discomfort
• inflammation of the testicles (called orchitis), which occurs in 2 to 3 out of every 10 males who get mumps after puberty
  • Note: Mumps orchitis has been reported as a risk factor for testicular cancer²
• respiratory symptoms, which occur in up to half of all people with mumps, particularly in children under 5 years old³
• hearing loss in both children and adults
• inflammation in the pancreas (called pancreatitis), usually mild, which occurs in about every 4 out of 100 cases.

How Can We Prevent the Spread of Mumps in Our Communities?

The best way to prevent mumps is by getting vaccinated. The vaccine is usually given in two doses during childhood. It is given as part of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The MMR vaccine protects against mumps, measles, and rubella. More than 90% of people who are vaccinated develop immunity that protects against mumps for their entire life.

In countries where many people have received two doses of the mumps vaccine, the incidence of mumps cases has dropped from about 100 to 1,000 cases per 100,000 people to less than one case per 100,000 people.⁴ However, American Indian/Alaska Native children born in 2020 were 20% less likely to be fully vaccinated by age 24 months than non-Hispanic white children.⁵

Vaccination has made mumps much less common. Despite this, outbreaks still happen, especially in places where people are close together like in schools or colleges. By getting vaccinated, we can protect ourselves and our children from this disease.

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References

1. Duprex WP, Dutch RE. Paramyxoviruses: pathogenesis, vaccines, antivirals, and prototypes for pandemic preparedness. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2023;228(6):S390–S397. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiad123
2. Mumps virus vaccines: WHO position paper. World Health Organization. March 2024. Accessed June 2025. https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/policies/position-papers/mumps 
3. Heymann, DL, ed. MUMPS ICD-10 B26. In: Control of Communicable Diseases Manual. 19th ed. 2008:431-434.
4. Hiebert J, Saboui M, Frost JR, et al. Mumps resurgence in a highly vaccinated population: insights gained from surveillance in Canada, 2002–2020. Vaccine. 2023;41(25):3728–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.04.078
5. National Immunization Survey-Child, United States, 2020–2022. Vaccination coverage by age 24 months among children born in 2019 and 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2023. Accessed June 2025. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/134544