Division of Public Health Services  Disease Handbook for Childcare Providers 
Bureau of Infectious Disease Control   REVISED –January 2018 
MUMPS 
 
Mumps is a viral illness that usually causes 
swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands, 
particularly the gland at the angle of the jaw.  
Headache, slight fever and earache are common.  
Possible complications includ e Meningitis (an 
inflammation of the coverings of the brain and 
spinal cord), Encephalitis (an inflammation of the 
brain), deafness and, particularly in adolescent or 
adult males, inflammation of the testicles.  Mumps 
during pregnancy can result is loss of the fetus. 
 
Who gets this disease? 
Mumps may be seen in unimmunized children, or 
adolescents and young adults who graduated from 
school prior to laws requiring mumps 
immunization.  Most adults born before 1957 
have been infected by exposure to the disease and 
are probably immune. 
 
How is it spread? 
The mumps virus is found most often in saliva.  It 
is transmitted by direct contact or by droplet 
spread of the virus in the air through sneezes and 
coughs.  Mumps is most infectious 48 hours prior 
to the onset of symptoms. 
 
What are the symptoms? 
The most common symptoms are: 1) fever with 
headache and earache,  loss of appetite  and 2) 
swollen glands in front of and below the ear. 
 
Symptoms appear 12 -25 days after exposure.  
Infected persons are contagious from 1- 2 days 
before to 5 days after swelling begins.  A small 
percentage of immunized children may be 
infected with mumps if their bodies fail to 
respond adequately to the vaccine. 
How can the spread of this disease be 
prevented? 
The national Advisory Committee on 
Immunization Practices ( ACIP) recommends that 
children be immunized against mumps.  This is 
frequently combined with measles and rubella 
vaccine, which is required for childcare and 
school attendance. Children should receive this 
vaccine between 12 -15 months of age and again 
between 4-6 years of age.  
 
Who should be excluded? 
A child or staff member with mumps should not 
return until five  days after the onset of swelling.  
Any susceptible , unvaccinated child or staff 
member at a childcare center shall not return to 
the center unti l 26 days after onset of parotid 
gland inflammation in the last person with mumps 
in the center.  Any person so excluded may return 
to the center immediately if he/she receives 
mumps vaccine. 
 
Reportable? 
Yes.  Mumps is reportable by New Hampshire 
law to the Division of Public Health Services, 
Bureau of Infectious Disease Control  at (603) 
271-4496.