Mumps

What is mumps? Mumps is a respiratory infectious disease caused by the mumps virus, which is most common in children and adolescents. The most well-known characteristic of mumps is swelling of the parotid glands.

According to statistics, the number of people suffering from mumps in my country in 2019 was 275,500, and the number of deaths was 0. Although the mortality rate of mumps is 0, its onset process is making it difficult for us to still suffer from it. .

Mumps is called mumps for short. The most unbearable thing about mumps is that the mucosa on the side of the cavity will swell, causing unbearable pain. So how does it develop? To understand its pathogenesis we must first understand the following parotid virus.

Parotid virus belongs to the RNA virus of the Paramyxoviridae family. Its shape is spherical with a diameter of 100 to 200 microns. Its outermost layer is an envelope, just like a cell membrane. There are Hemagglutinins, these hemagglutinins are neuraminidase spike and fusion factor spike respectively. These two are its most advantageous weapons when entering our cells. Its protein coat is in the shape of a spiral symmetry, and the innermost part is the RNA genetic material chain where it carries out evil.

It takes an average of eighteen days after we are infected with parotid virus to get sick. There will be no early symptoms. Once the disease occurs, fever, chills, headache, myalgia, sore throat, loss of appetite, and nausea will appear. , vomiting, general malaise, etc., parotid gland swelling and pain gradually become obvious for several hours, and the body temperature can reach above 39°C. It can be said to be very uncomfortable, but the most uncomfortable thing is that mumps can lead to a series of complications, such as meningitis, orchitis, pancreatitis inflammation, oophoritis, deafness and other diseases, especially those that can lead to infertility. The most unimaginable thing for us is that mumps can cause acquired deafness in children. It is too much to let a child suddenly fall into a world of silence in a world full of beautiful sounds.

Under normal circumstances, patients with mumps only need to rest in bed until the swelling of the parotid glands completely subsides. The whole process does not exceed ten days. If there are complications, you should go to the hospital for treatment. Do not stay at home. You must know that orchitis or ovarian inflammation can lead to infertility, which is very painful for the couple who are hosting the family.

The parotid virus is not easy to survive at high temperatures and can only survive for half an hour at 56°C. It is particularly sensitive to ultraviolet rays, so exposure to the sun for a period of time can effectively kill the virus.

Parotid virus mainly enters our body through two ways. One is droplet transmission, through inhalation of virus-containing droplets and saliva into the respiratory tract. The other is direct contact. For example, if a surface contains parotid virus, if we touch it and then touch our nose or put our fingers in our mouth, we will be infected with the virus and eventually become ill.

So how does this virus cause swelling in us. First of all, we know that the two hemagglutinin spikes on the envelope of parotid virus are neuraminidase spikes and fusion factor spikes. When the virus enters the upper respiratory tract, it will attach to the epithelial cells on the nasal mucosa and multiply. So how do they get inside the cell? They first use neuraminidase to open the door of the epithelial cell, enter the cell and multiply in large numbers, and then use fusion factors to fuse with the cell, becoming a permanent shelter for themselves and controlling the cell. When the nutrients in the cell are consumed, the cell will be controlled to open the door and continue to harm other cells. It should be noted that parotid viruses do not like to stay in one place. They will travel with the blood to other places in our body, usually making two trips. First, it will reach the parotid gland and some surrounding tissues through the blood, reproduce, and harm the cells in the area. Then it will reach other organs of our body through the blood, such as the pancreas, brain, testicles, etc.

But our immune system will not sit still. Our vanguard phagocytes will release cytokines while swallowing the virus, causing the blood vessels in the virus-containing areas to expand and leak out the water in the blood. This is why The reason why our parotid glands swell is not only that, but white blood cells also increase our body temperature, enhance the combat effectiveness of immune cells, and reduce the reproduction ability of viruses. When our white blood cells enter the battlefield and defeat the virus completely, new tissue will slowly appear, the swelling will slowly subside and eventually disappear, and there will be no need to worry about reinfection for life. But when white blood cells cannot defeat the virus, a series of terrible complications will follow, ranging from infertility to life-threatening.

Mumps is really uncomfortable and you don’t even think about what to do. Don’t worry, there are many ways to prevent the infection. The first thing is to be hygienic and wash your hands frequently, so as not to allow external viruses to take advantage of them. In addition, vaccination is a good prevention method. Injecting the vaccine can tell the immune cells in the body to produce corresponding antibodies in advance, so that once the mumps virus enters the human body, the antibodies will react immediately to kill it. Moreover, the protection rate of parotid vaccine is relatively high, with a protection period of up to ten years.