Pretoria - MMC for Health in the City of Tshwane, Rina Marx has encouraged parents and caregivers to monitor children who present the identified symptoms of mumps, especially at this time.
Marx said mumps infections often occurred in winter and spring.
Over the past few days, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed an outbreak of mumps in South A frica.Three provinces, notably Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, have registered the majority of cases. From March 2023 to date, approximately 95 cases of mumps have been recorded at primary health-care clinics managed by the City of Tshwane.
Mumps is a viral infection caused by the rubulavirus and affects children mainly between 5 to 9 years of age. However, younger children, older children and adults can also contract the virus.
Mumps spread via saliva droplets or mucus of an infected person. It can also be spread indirectly through contact with contaminated surfaces that an infected person touched. The incubation period is 16 to 18 days after exposure to an infected individual.
Symptoms of mumps include discomfort in the salivary glands (in the front of the neck) or the parotid glands (immediately in front of the ears). These glands may become swollen and tender.
Additional symptoms include difficulty chewing, pain and tenderness of the testicles, fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite. It is important for infected persons to be isolated to prevent the spread of the virus.
Though there is no cure for mumps, treatment is mainly focused on alleviating the symptoms associated with mumps. This includes drinking plenty of fluids, gargling with warm salt water, taking non-aspirin medications, avoiding acidic foods and placing ice or heat packs on swollen glands.
The disease must run its course and usually goes away on its own within a few weeks.
Mumps is not a notifiable disease and laboratory tests are used to confirm an infection.
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