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Health & Wellness -> Diseases and Medical Conditions
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What are the long-term effects of contracting mumps?
Mumps are an illness that can happen to anyone, but mostly affects kids. It's caused by a virus that makes our salivary glands swell up and can make us feel sick. While most of us will feel better in a few weeks, some people may experience long-term effects from getting mumps.
One possible long-term effect is hearing loss. Mumps can damage our ears and make it hard to hear things the way we used to. This is because the virus can affect the nerves and the tiny bones in our ears. Unfortunately, hearing loss can be permanent and might require hearing aids or other devices to help us hear better.
Another long-term effect is infertility. This means that the virus can damage the reproductive organs in both boys and girls, making it harder or even impossible to have children when they grow up. Boys can experience testicular swelling, which can lead to infertility, and girls can experience ovarian swelling or damage, which can make it harder to become pregnant in the future.
In some cases, mumps can also lead to meningitis, which is a serious condition that can cause swelling around the brain and spinal cord. This can be life-threatening and require hospitalization and treatment with medications to reduce the inflammation.
These long-term effects are not common, but they can happen, so it's important to take mumps seriously and to protect ourselves and others by getting vaccinated. The vaccine is safe and effective and can help prevent us from getting mumps and experiencing these long-term effects. It's always better to prevent an illness than to treat it, so let's all do our part to stay healthy and protect our health.
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