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Mumps

8 questions · Health & Medicine

Mumps, popularly called by the German nickname „Ziegenpeter“, is a contagious viral disease you can recognise at a glance: by the thickly swollen „hamster cheeks“. It is caused by the mumps virus, spread by droplets and saliva, and it attacks above all the parotid (salivary) glands. These swell painfully, so that chewing and swallowing hurt and the face looks round and puffy. Mumps usually runs a mild course, but the disease can bring serious complications: meningitis, lasting hardness of hearing or even deafness, and (in boys and men after puberty) a painful inflammation of the testicles that can in rare cases lead to infertility. Before there was a vaccine, mumps was one of the typical childhood diseases that almost everyone went through, and a common cause of acquired deafness in childhood. Today mumps is usually vaccinated against together with measles and rubella (MMR). Where the vaccination rate is high, the disease has become rare: but if immunity in a community drops, for instance at universities, mumps can still return in waves today.

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4 of 8 questions with answers

What is mumps popularly called in German?

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Ziegenpeter

The name is old and folksy.

💡 Did you know? The disease was also called other regional names.

Which glands typically swell with mumps?

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The parotid glands

They sit in front of and below the ears.

💡 Did you know? This gives the typical „hamster cheeks“.

Which kind of pathogen causes mumps?

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A virus

It is spread by droplets and saliva.

💡 Did you know? Humans are its only host.

Which feared complication can mumps cause in men?

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Inflammation of the testicles

It occurs mainly after puberty.

💡 Did you know? In rare cases infertility can result.

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