mumps
British medical journal retracts study linking MMR vaccine to autism
CBC News February 2010: A medical journal in Britain retracted a controversial study it published in 1998 that linked the use of a vaccine in children to autism...Read more
Keep your child safe - get all of their shots on time!
About the Vaccine
The mumps vaccine is combined with the measles and rubella vaccine, so a person can receive protection from several diseases with one shot. For more information about the vaccine, who should get it, the benefits and possible reactions, click on the link below to go to the specific BC HealthFile.
Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine (14a) Two shots given to children at 12 and 18 months of age. The vaccine is given at the same time as other childhood immunizations.
About the Disease
- Mumps is an acute viral illness caused by the mumps virus and is most often a childhood disease but you can also catch it as an adult
- Mumps usually causes fever, aches and pains, headaches, and swelling of the salivary glands and cheeks
- Mumps is spread by coughing, sneezing, kissing, or getting an infected person's saliva into your mouth
- Complications are rare but can include inflamation of the brain (encephalitis), testicles or ovaries and deafness
- Death related to mumps infection happens in about 1 out of every 10,000 cases
- There is less mumps disease in BC because of routine childhood vaccination programs
- For more information on this disease, see the mumps (14c) HealthFile.
- More vaccine preventable disease images.
Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
