Parotid gland
Mumps is seen to be a common cause of parotid gland swelling - 85% of cases occur in children younger than 15 years. The disease is highly contagious and spreads by airborne droplets from salivary, nasal, and urinary secretions. Symptoms include oedema in the area, trismus as well as otalgia. The lesion tends to begin on one side of the face and eventually becomes bilateral. The transmission of the paramyxovirus is by contact with the infected persons saliva. Initial symptoms tend to be a headache and fever. Mumps is not fatal, however further complications can include swelling of the ovaries or the testes. Diagnosis of mumps is confirmed through viral serology, management of the condition includes hydration and good oral hygiene of the patient requiring excellent motivation. However, since the development of the mumps vaccine, given at the age of between 4–6 years, the incidence of this viral infection has greatly reduced. This vaccine has reduced the incidence by 99%.
Orientia tsutsugamushi
The World Health Organization in 1999 stated that:
Scrub typhus is historically endemic to the Asia-Pacific region covering the Russian Far East and Korea in the north to northern Australia in the south and Afghanistan in the west, including islands of the western Pacific Oceans such as Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Indian Subcontinent. This geographic region is popularly called the Tsutsugamushi Triangle. However, it has spread to Africa, Europe and South America. One billion people are estimated to be at risk of infection at any moment and an average of one million cases occur every year in the Tsutsugamushi Triangle. In the absence of proper medical care, the case fatality rate can go beyond 30% to as high as 70% in some areas. The burden of scrub typhus in rural areas of Asia is huge, accounting for up to 20% of febrile sickness in hospital, and seroprevalence (positive infection on blood test) over 50% of the population. More than one-fifth of the population carry the bacterial antibodies, i.e., they had been infected, in endemic areas. South Korea has the highest level incidence (with its highest of 59.7 infection out of 100,000 people in 2013), followed by Japan, Thailand, and China at top of the list.