Mumps in the Anaheim Ducks locker room

Two Anaheim Ducks players, Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin, have just been diagnosed with Mumps.  This is a condition that is caused by a virus and presents with fever, headache, muscle ache, fatigue, and swelling of salivary glands.  The most textbook presentation is a large swelling of the neck.  Once a person is diagnosed with Mumps, the treatment is just supportive fluids, anti-inflammatory medications, and rest.  Patients should be isolated for 5 days after they notice the symptoms to prevent its spread.  Rarely, Mumps can lead to an inflammation of the testicles, ovaries, breasts, and in severe cases even infection of the brain or spinal fluid.  Luckily, those are very rare cases and most patients will recover without any problems.

So why do we care about Mumps?  Most people have never heard of it and most doctors will never see it in their careers so it should be relegated to textbooks right?  The reason we rarely see Mumps in this country now is because of vaccination.  Whether you remember it or not, almost all of us in the United States received the MMR vaccine which immunizes us against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.  Great, so if we are all vaccinated, why are we still talking about this?  The reason is that there is a growing movement against childhood vaccines.  For this reason, we are starting to see diseases such as Mumps and Measles again.  The debate behind vaccination is something I will leave for another day, but I will say this.  We are seeing diseases in the United States that were practically eradicated due to vaccines, and that is not a good path to head down.  The Anaheim hockey team players will be just fine, but lets make sure to keep our ducks in a row when it comes to vaccination!