Mumps: Extra-Salivary Gland Manifestations

Mumps is caused by a paramyxovirus that classically presents with painful, non-suppurative parotitis. However, the virus is not limited to the salivary glands — it frequently involves other organs, and the pattern of these "extra-salivary" complications differs by age and sex, with adults (particularly post-pubertal males) at higher risk of certain manifestations than children.

Why Orchitis Is the Correct Answer

Orchitis (testicular inflammation) is the most common extra-salivary gland manifestation of mumps in adults, especially in post-pubertal and adult males. It develops in roughly 20–30% of infected post-pubertal males, typically appearing 4–8 days after the onset of parotitis, and is usually unilateral. It can occasionally lead to testicular atrophy, though bilateral involvement causing infertility is uncommon. Given its high incidence in the adult population, orchitis is recognized as the leading non-salivary complication of mumps in adults.

Analysis of the Options

• Pancreatitis: Mumps can cause a mild, transient pancreatitis, but this occurs far less frequently than orchitis and is not the most common extra-salivary finding.
• Polyarthritis: Mumps-associated arthritis (migratory polyarthralgia/arthritis) is a recognized but uncommon complication, occurring in a small minority of adult cases — much rarer than orchitis.
• Orchitis: As explained above, this is the correct answer — the most frequent extra-salivary manifestation in adult (post-pubertal male) mumps patients.
• Hydrocephalus: Mumps can cause aseptic meningitis or encephalitis, and rarely aqueductal stenosis leading to hydrocephalus has been reported, but this is a rare neurological sequela, not a common manifestation, and is far less frequent than orchitis.

Conclusion

Among the given options, orchitis is well-documented in standard microbiology and pediatrics/medicine texts as the commonest extra-salivary gland complication of mumps in adult males, making Option C (Orchitis) the correct answer.