MUMPS

What is Mumps ?

Mumps is a very common virus infection that affect the saliva–producing glands in the face, but it can affect some other parts of the body. It is most common in children between the age of five and fifteen years but rare in babies under one year. Outbreaks usually occur in winter and spring. Generally, it is a fairly mild illness and recovery is complete. One attach will provide the person with immunity for the rest of his or her life. Droplets containing the it virus are carried in the air and breathed in through the nose and mouth, the virus then spread through the body in the bloodstream. For a person to become infected, the contact has to be close-playing for a few hours with another child who has it, for instance. It is infectious for about 14 days after the initial symptoms develop. The incubation period (the time from coming into contact with an infected person to developing the disease) is 16 to 24 days. Roughly third of all people who catch it do not have any symptoms-only a blood test would confirm that they had had the disease. But when the symptoms do occur, most people feel unwell, have a raised temperature and experience a loss of appetite for about a week before any enlargement of the salivary glands is evident. Usually one of the parotid glands (the salivary glands at the sides of the face, below and in front of the ears) swells first, followed in a day or two by the other parotid gland. The growth is usually painful and children often complain of earache. Stating just below the lower part of the ear, the bump spreads over the angle of the jaw below and behind the earlobe. The size of the distension varies from barely noticeable to quite large. The amount of pain felt also varies but dose not seem to be related to the size of the swelling. In most cases the mouth and throat will feel rather dry because the glands produce less saliva while they are inflamed. Where diagnosis is difficult, various tests can be performed, including blood tests which show a rise in the level of it antibodies (cells produced by the body to ‘fight off’ the virus) during the illness.

Mumps-Complication And Recovery

Complication

The tow commonest complication of mumps are mild meningitis and orchitis. Meningitis is inflammation or the tissues surrounding the brain and the spinal cord, orchitis is inflammation of the testes Meningitis may occur at the same time, a few days after or even a few days before the facial swelling develops in it. The first sings are a severe headache, stiffness or difficulty in bending the neck and a marked dislike of looking at bright lights (photophobia). Occasionally the person may become confused or even unconscious. Any age group can be affected by this difficulty. Where meningitis is suspected, a lumber puncture is performed which involves taking a sample of fluid from around the spinal column and brain. Orchitis only occurs in boys after they have reached puberty. About 20 % of adult males who catch it are pretentious. It begins as hurt and swelling of the testes about three to five days after the salivary glands have swollen up. In mild cases, there may only be slight enlargement of the testes and only a little pain. Following an attack of orchitis, the tests may become smaller and the number of sperm produced may be less, but sterility is very rare. The other complication of it is much rarer. Children, in particularly, may of hurting complain in the abdomen which is sometimes caused by the pancreas gland being affect by the it virus. Occasionally a child can develop a from of diabetes after puberty the lower part of the abdomen-this dose not cause sterility. Some people become permanently deaf after it. Usually only one ear is unnatural and it is thought that the virus damages the nerves that supply the ear. Arthritis, or sting in the joints, may develop for up to a month after an attack of it, with men being more susceptible than women. Usually then hip joint, the knee or the ankle is exaggerated but the soreness eventually disappears completely. The it virus can cause inflammation of the kidneys (nephritis) and the thyroid gland (thyroiditis). It may also affect the breasts (mastitis) of both sexes, causing swelling and tenderness. Rarely, the heart muscle can be precious causing throbbing in the chest and breathlessness (myocarditis).

Recovery

Apart from a rare case of deafness or brain damage following a severe attack of it meningitis, the outlook is excellent, with people making a complete recovery even if they have had one of the complication. One attack also gives a person complete natural immunity against future outbreaks.

Measles: Causes And Symptoms

Causes

Measles is one of the most common childhood diseases. It is a viral infection which affect mainly the skin and respiratory tract. For most children this means seven to ten days of high temperature, coughing, rash and misery. Also, not all children have the disease in its simple from and there are some possible complications ranging from mild to very serious indeed. Because it is a viral infection, measles dose not respond to antibiotics. However, many of the complications which can accompany measles are bacterial and therefore can be treated with antibiotics.

Fortunately, tough, the illness is avoidable. The measles vaccine offers almost 100% protection and its enthusiastic use in the USA has meant that the disease will probably vanish altogether from the United States in the next few years. Measles is caused by a virus which is passed on when a child breathes in the infected droplets sprayed into the air when a person who already has the illness coughs or sneezes. The disease is infectious for about ten days, from several days before the rash appears until about a week afterwards.

Symptoms

Once in the bloodstream, the virus spreads rapidly to various parts of the body where it multiplies during the eight to fourteen day incubation period. The first signs of illness occur at the end of the time when the child develops a streaming nose and sore, red, swollen eyes. The throat may be sore and the child is usually racked with a dry, irritating cough. There is a rise in temperature usually more marked in the evening to between 37.2°C and 38.3°C (99 °F and 101 °F). the child becomes miserable and loses his or her appetite. In addition, all interest in playing may be lost and the child will not want the company of friends.

During this stage, before the rash appears appears, a positive diagnosis can sometimes be made by observing Koplik’s spots surrounded by a red halo on the mouth and are a tell-tale sign of measles. Two or three days after the first signs of the illness, the rash begins behind the ears and on the forehead. It then spreads downwards until , after a further two or three days, the whole body is covered. At first the spots are dull, red, slightly raised and little larger than a pinhead. They quickly enlarge up to about 1 cm (1/2 in) in diameter and join together to from larger irregular blotches. As this happening, the fever raises to between 40°C and 40.5°C (104°F and 105°F) and child feels extremely ill, looks very unhappy and may sound very ‘chesty’. The rash us its worst for about three days before slowly fading. Then the temperature falls and the child feels much better about seven to ten days after the symptoms first appeared: he or she will no longer be infectious. Before  the rash has appeared the illness may be mistaken for a heavy cold but the red, swollen eyes and general misery are clues to the true cause. Occasionally the rash is initially mistaken for German measles the child is far less and the rash is pinker, finer and rarely blotchy.