Mumps(Parotitis)isacommoncontagiousdiseasewithrelativelymoderatesymptomsduringchildhood,butincreasingcomplications,whenadultsareinfected.ThecausativeagentofmumpsisavirusoftheParamyxoviridaefamily.Bothamumpsinfectionorvaccinationleadtoapersistentimmunity.
Thetypicalsymptomassociatedwithamumpsinfectionisa„parotitis“(swellingoftheparotidglands)andpossIBLeadditionalinvolvementoftheCNSandvariousglandularorgans(pancreas,thymus,thyroids).Amumpsinducedmeningitisisoneofthemostfrequentmanifestationsofthediseasewhichcanalsoappearwithoutparotitis.Thepublisheddataaboutthepresenceofmeningitisvarybetween1.4%and66%oftheclinicallyillpatients.Inmostcasestherefollowsreconvalescencewithoutcomplications.
TherecognitionofMumpsinthelaboratoryismostlydonebydetectionoftheinfectiousagentitselforbythedeterminationofvirus-specificantibodies.TheSEROdiagnosisplaysamajorpart.Besidestheclassicalmethodslikecomplementfixation,hemagglutinationandneutralisationtestshavebeenintroducedaseriesofmodernassayslikeimmunofluorescence,rADIoimmunoassayandenzymeimmunoassay.TheimmunityofanindividualismonitoredbyanIgGELISA.IncreasingIgGtitersarehelpfulinthedeterminationofthecausativeagentbeausecrossreactionswithParainfluenza-Virustype2mayleadtoawronginterpretationofthepatientreports.Intheearlystageofthedisease,significantIgMtitersmaybemonitored.