Pediatric Infectious Diseases: Open Access

Mumps in children

The Mumps Virus (MuV) is an enveloped, non-segmented, negative-sense RNA virus that belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family. Mumps is a contagious disease that causes severe inflammatory symptoms like parotitis and orchitis. The virus is highly neurotropic, with laboratory evidence of infection in the Central Nervous System (CNS) in around half of the cases. Although symptomatic CNS infection is rare, MuV was a prominent cause of aseptic meningitis and viral encephalitis in many developed nations previous to the introduction of widespread vaccination. Despite being one of the oldest recognised diseases with a global distribution, it has received relatively little research attention. Aseptic meningitis instances linked to specific vaccine strains, as well as a global resurgence of cases, especially in well vaccinated populations, have reignited interest in the virus, particularly its pathophysiology and the need for clinically relevant disease models.

Samuel V Beach