Childhood immunizations in the United States
Mumps is a contagious disease caused by the virus by the same name. Since most people in the United States have been vaccinated, mumps is now a rare disease in this country. Currently there are no specific treatments for mumps.
Mumps is spread person to person by droplets of saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose or throat of an infected person. This is done through coughing, sneezing, talking, and coming into contact with contaminate items. Transmission likely occurs before the salivary glands swell an up to 5 days after the swelling begins.
Mumps vaccine
The cells used in culture, virus stocks used, and animal fluids are all screened for extraneous material as part of the vaccine production. They are grown in Medium 199 (a solution containing buffered salt, vitamins, amino acids, fetal bovine serum) with SPGA (sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, human serum albumin) and neomycin. The human albumin processing uses the Cohn cold ethanol fractionation method. Mumpsvax production as a stand-alone product ceased in 2009.Monovalent mumps vaccine (Mumpsvax) remained available in the U.S.A when MMR was introduced in the UK, replacing the MR (measles and rubella) mixed vaccine. No UK-licensed monovalent preparation was ever available. This became the subject of considerable argument at the end of the 20th century, since some parents preferred to obtain individually the components of the MMR mixture. One mumps vaccine preparation imported into the United Kingdom and unlicensed, proved to be essentially ineffective. Immunisation against mumps in the UK became routine in 1988, commencing with MMR. The Aventis-Pasteur "MMR-2" brand is usual in the UK in 2006.