This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Go to /pro/cpd-dashboard page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. CPD dashboard

Go to /account/subscription-details page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. Upgrade to Pro

Investigations

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The diagnosis is usually clinical. If there is doubt then a rise in antibody titres, detection of viral RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques or viral culture from saliva, urine or CSF is diagnostic. The excretion of virus persists longer in the urine than in the saliva; it can be cultured from urine in 70% of cases.

Serum

  • IgM can be detected as early 11 days after exposure
  • the optimal time for detection is around 7–10 days after the development symptoms (1).

Saliva

  • can use both IgM and RT-PCR tests (if salivary IgM is negative) to detect mumps in saliva
  • the salivary IgM test has high specificity (98%), and its sensitivity increases from 75% in the first week after symptoms appear to 100% thereafter. (1).

Urine

  • viral culture and RNA detection in urine can be done during the first 2 weeks of illness (2).

CSF

  • CSF shows lymphocytosis, an elevated protein and a normal opening pressure, serum glucose ratio (< 50%) in up to a quarter of cases
  • mumps RNA (up to 96% of cases) and specific antibody tests – IgG (in half of cases ) and IgM (in one third of cases) can be used to detect mumps in CSF (1).

Reference

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.