Mumps Mumps can cause fever, headaches and swelling of the cheeks and jaw. The swelling is caused by an infection of the salivary glands. Mumps can cause meningitis, an infection of the fluid and lining covering the brain and spinal cord. About 1 in every 10 people with mumps gets meningitis. Fortunately, mumps meningitis is usually mild.
Mumps can cause deafness in some children.
Mumps can cause very painful, swollen testicles in about 1 out of 4 teenage boys or adult men. This may rarely cause sterility. Mumps can cause a painful infection of the ovaries in 1 out of 20 women. People can get mumps from an infected person coughing or sneezing around them or simply talking to them. Rubella is very dangerous in pregnant women.