Mumps virus is the causative agent of mumps, a well-known common childhood disease characterised by swelling of the parotid glands, salivary glands and other epithelial tissues, causing high morbidity and in some cases more serious complications such as deafness. Natural infection is currently restricted to humans and the virus is transmitted by direct contact, droplet spread, or contaminated objects.
It is considered a vaccine-preventable disease, although significant outbreaks have occurred in recent years in developed countries such as America, in areas of poor vaccine uptake. These have allowed the further evaluation and ennumeration of its efficacy (~75–85% after two doses of MMR).
Mumps virus belongs to the genus Rubulavirus in the family Paramyxovirus and is seen to have a roughly spherical, enveloped morphology of about 200 nm in diameter. It contains a linear, single-stranded molecule of negative-sense RNA 15,384 nucleotides long.
Read more about Mumps Virus: Structure, Basic Morphology, Genotypes, Vaccination
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