Testicular immunology
Mumps is a viral disease which causes swelling of the salivary glands and testes. The mumps virus lives in the upper respiratory tract and spreads through direct contact with saliva. Prior to widespread vaccination programs, it was a common childhood disease. Mumps is generally not serious in children, but in adults, where sperm have matured in the testis, it can cause more severe complications, such as infertility.
Jeryl Lynn
Jeryl Lynn are strains of mumps virus used in the Mumpsvax mumps vaccine made by Merck. The strains are named after Jeryl Lynn Hilleman. In 1963 Ms. Hilleman's father, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, was leading efforts to produce a mumps vaccine for Merck. He cultured the mumps virus from her throat, and in 1967 a vaccine was produced from this which is now widely used.