MUMPS

Abstract

MUMPS is a specific virus disease that is rarely serious in children but that produces a high percentage of severe manifestations in adults. In normal times, the study of patients admitted to contagious disease hospitals yields results probably not representative of the average disease, since these patients are usually a selected group with more severe types of mumps. The mobilization of large numbers of men in military service or an institutional outbreak provides an opportunity to make surveys and note the effects of specific therapy on this disease. Mumps usually occurs between the ages of 5 and 15 years, the incidence being 10 to 20 per cent among persons who have spent their childhood in rural areas, while 80 per cent of those who have lived in urban districts had mumps in childhood. The high morbidity in the armed services is due, in the main, to the large number of