Mumps is a contagious viral infection that can cause painful
swelling of the salivary glands, especially the parotid glands
(between the ear and the jaw). Some people with mumps won't have
gland swelling. They may feel like they have a bad cold or the
flu instead. Mumps usually goes away on its own in about 10
days. But in some cases it can cause complications that affect
the brain (meningitis), the testicles (orchitis), the ovaries
(oophoritis), or the pancreas (pancreatitis). The mumps vaccine
protects against the illness. This vaccine is part of the MMR
(measles, mumps, and rubella) and MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella,
and varicella [chickenpox]) vaccines. Most children get the
vaccine as part of their regular shots. Before the mumps vaccine
existed, mumps was a common childhood disease in the United
States and Canada. Mumps is spread when an infected person
coughs or sneezes near you or shares food or drinks. You can
spread the virus 7 days before and for 9 days after symptoms
start. You are most likely to