Mumps, like measles, is one of those familiar childhood diseases that have long been minimized. Most of its vic tims are between five and ten, and usu ally they suffer no more than a few days of fever and headache, a swollen jaw and difficulty in swallowing. But those symptoms are increasingly being recognized as signs of a potentially serious medical problem. Virologists in many different laboratories have been working overtime to develop an effective preventive vaccine.
Their concern is understandable. For even in childhood, mumps may occasionally cause complications leading to...