Studies on the Association of Meningitis and Mumps Virus Vaccination

Mumps is an acute viral infection caused by a member of the Rubulavirus genus in the Paramyxoviridae family. Although it is mostly a childhood disease, with peak incidence occurring among those aged 5–9 years, mumps virus (MuV) may also affect teenagers. MuV is known to affect the salivary glands causing parotid swelling; however, it can also produce an acute systemic infection involving glandular, lymphoid and nervous tissues, leading to some important complications such as pancreatitis, oophoritis orchitis, mastitis, nephritis and thyroiditis. The main central nervous system (CNS) complication of mumps virus infection is aseptic meningitis (in up to 15% of cases); it is also associated rarely with encephalitis, hydrocephalus and sensorineural deafness (affecting approximately 5/100 000 mumps patients) (Carbone & Rubin, 2007; Hviid et al., 2008; Plotkin & Rubin, 2007; World Health Organization [WHO], 2007).