General symptoms of the disease include fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, pain in the arms and legs as well as fever. A typical symptom is the painful, inflammatory swelling of the parotid glands. The swelling can occur on one or both sides and usually persists for about three to eight days. The salivary glands in the mandible and/or under the tongue as well as the adjacent lymph nodes may also be enlarged.
In at least one third of the cases, the infection causes no or few symptoms. Especially in children under the age of five, they often only produce symptoms similar to those of a common cold. For this reason, mumps goes undetected in many cases.
The risk of developing complications or long-term damage increases with age. Up to ten percent of sufferers develop meningitis, which can manifest itself through a severe headache, neck stiffness and vomiting. A less common complication is inflammation of the brain, which may cause lasting damage such as paralysis and can even have a fatal outcome in isolated cases. One in 20,000 sufferers may experience permanent hearing loss or deafness. Up to one in three male sufferers after puberty develop orchitis as a result of mumps, which manifests itself by another rise in body temperature with severe swelling and tenderness of one or both testicles, and may lead to a limitation to or, in rare cases, a loss of fertility. In women, inflammation of the mammary glands or ovaries is possible. Inflammation of the pancreas may also occur as another complication.
