Rare outbreaks of mumps in Iowa have prompted a renewed interest in the disease with some concern for the baby boomer generation. That's the age group that health officials say might not have had a second dose of the M.M.R., or measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands caused by a virus. Mumps usually occur in school-age children, although young adults may also catch the disease. Almost everyone born before 1957 has already had mumps. It is most common in late winter and spring.

The mumps virus is spread by contact with infected secretions from the nose or throat and usually results in swelling of the salivary gland toward the back of each cheek in the area between the ear and jaw. Mumps was common until the mumps vaccine was licensed in 1967. Before the vaccine, more than 200,000 cases occurred in the U.S. Since then the number of cases has dropped to fewer than 1,000 per year. As in the pre-vaccine years, most cases of mumps are still in children ages 5 to 14, but the instance of young adults who become infected has been rising slowly over the last two decades.

Symptoms include swollen and tender salivary glands near the cheeks, swollen and tender testes in teenage and adult men, and fever, headache and loss of appetite.

Although most people recover fully, mumps can cause complications including infections of the brain (encephalitis) and the covering of the brain (meningitis), arthritis, and deafness.

Children usually recover from mumps in about 10 to 12 days. It takes about a week for the swelling to disappear in each parotid gland, but both glands don't usually swell at the same time.

Once you have the mumps, you are immune and shouldn't catch it again. If you think someone in your household has the mumps, contact your physician who can confirm the diagnosis and work to monitor the patient's progress as well as watch for complications.

Dr. Maini is a pediatrician with Methodist at Mt. Hawley - Pediatrics, where she provides outstanding healthcare for children from birth through age 18.