The story so far: Mumps, an acute viral infection which historically affects children, has been spreading like wildfire in Kerala, for the past few months. Not just Kerala, a resurgence in cases was being reported from several States, including Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as well. Cases which began appearing sporadically around November 2023 in the Malappuram and Kozhikode districts of Kerala, have since then spread to Palakkad and Thrissur too, resulting in major community outbreaks. The case tally this year alone has reached 15,637, as on March 22, with 6,675 cases being reported this month alone. Such an uncontrolled surge in cases could lead to an increase in the number of complications of mumps, like meningoencephalitis or pancreatitis, public health experts fear.
Is it a cause for concern?
Mumps is a self-limiting, airborne viral disease and presents as fever and headache in mostly children and adolescents, with painful swelling of the salivary glands (parotid glands) on both sides of the face. There is no specific treatment and the patient recovers with rest and symptomatic management in about two weeks. With only half of the infected children developing the classical disease and close to 30% remaining asymptomatic, cases mostly go unreported, indicating that the reported cases are a gross underestimation of the actual cases in the community.
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