What is mumps? 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. What causes mumps? Mumps is
spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes near you or
shares food or drinks. You can spread the virus 1 to 2 days
before and for 5 to 9 days a