SEROEPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF MUMPS IN 74 CHILDREN 5 TO 10 YEARS OLD BY COMPLEMENT FIXATION

Mumps is an acute contagious viral disease that usually manifests as inflammation of the parotid glands. The disease may be associated with symptoms such as parotitis, orchitis and meningoencephalitis. 85% of cases occur in children under 15 years of age. The disease is rare below two years but increases with age, reaching a maximum at 5 to 9 years. Some studies in Iran showed that the highest susceptibility to the disease was in age groups of over 70, 0 to 9, and 10 to 19 years old. Therefore the elderly, children and teenagers are susceptible to the disease. In this study the susceptibility of 74 children between 5 to 10 years old to mumps was evaluated. The results showed that 5 and 6 year old children were the most susceptible group (p<0.05), and 10 year old children had the lowest susceptibility. However, this study showed that there was antibody in %70 of the cases. Thus similar studies with larger samples may help us to achieve a suitable strategy for prevention and eradication of this disease in our country.