Untreated mumps infection can cause infertility in men – physician

A public health expert, Dr. Tunji Akintade has warned that complications from untreated mumps infection can cause infertility in men, noting that those who have the viral infection should always ensure they seek proper treatment.

According to Akintade, if the viral infection is poorly treated or untreated, it could still resurface.

According to an article published by Healthline.com – an online medical site, mumps is a contagious disease caused by a virus that passes from one person to another through saliva, nasal secretions, and close personal contact.

The article further disclosed that “Females infected with mumps may experience swelling of the ovaries. The inflammation can be painful but doesn’t harm a woman’s eggs.

“However, if a woman contracts mumps during pregnancy, she has a higher-than-normal risk of experiencing a miscarriage,” it said.

According to Akintade, because the parotid gland is a lymphatic system the sufferer of mumps infection may have a lot of swelling, noting that it causes fever and pain because of the enlargement of the capsule.

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Speaking in an interview with Newsmen, the former Chairman of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria noted that mumps is caused by a lack of good personal hygiene.

Explaining how the infection affects fertility, Akintade said, “Any infection that tends to cause infection and blockage of the duct can affect anything.

“It affects the vas deferens, yes it does. Once the infection blocks it, there will be a backflow, a retrogress ejaculation and all of that.

“It obviously affects fertility. Once something is causing the blockage of sperm cells obviously what that means is that you are not going to be getting the adequate number that you need to fertilize an egg and what that means is that there’s a challenge here.”

Anything that affects that traffic will affect reproduction, Akintade explained.

Akintade added that as the infection is caused by a virus, the sufferer may not know when it would affect the reproductive organ as the swelling does not appear in the testes.

He, however, pointed out that with proper treatment by experts the mumps virus can be cleared up from the human system, stressing that getting proper treatment is crucial to averting its complications.