What are the symptoms of mumps orchitis?

Mumps is a disease caused by viral infection of the parotid glands. This virus can easily cause diseases of men's active glands, such as the testicular glands. This causes men's orchitis. Usually, orchitis occurs about two weeks after contracting mumps. So what are the symptoms of mumps orchitis? Let's take a look at it together with our editor.

Mumps is a viral infection characterized by bilateral parotid swelling. The virus of this disease likes to invade active glands. The testicles are male sex glands with strong activity, so orchitis is the main complication of mumps in the reproductive system. About 20% of mumps patients have orchitis.

After the parotid gland is enlarged, orchitis may occur about a week later, usually with unilateral testicular pain (this type of orchitis is particularly painful), chills and high fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and scrotal examination shows that the testicles are enlarged like walnuts or chicken or duck eggs, with obvious tenderness and medium texture, or as hard as a stone. The scrotal skin is obviously edematous, and there is yellow effusion in the puncture of the tunica vaginalis. The testicles swell rapidly at the beginning of the disease, reaching the peak within 1 to 2 days, and the swelling subsides after about 10 days. 1/3 to 1/2 of the patients have varying degrees of testicular atrophy. For patients with bilateral testicular infection, some patients may become infertile due to sperm production disorders caused by testicular atrophy.

The reason why gynecomastia occurs in adults after suffering from mumps or orchitis is that the ability of interstitial cells to secrete testosterone is significantly impaired, while the ability to produce estrogen is not impaired. Due to the decrease in androgen production, the aromatization of androstenedione at sites outside the gonads increases, and the increase in estrogen production causes a change in the androgen/estrogen ratio, which aggravates gynecomastia.

Orchitis caused by mumps can cause male breasts to become feminine, because the inflammation of the testicles causes a change in the ratio of male hormones and female hormones in the male body, which causes male breasts to become feminine. If the condition is serious, it may also lead to the normal formation of sperm in men, and there is a risk of infertility, so it must be treated in time.