How long does it take for orchitis after mumps to go away?

The article is professionally consulted by MSc Vo Thien Ngon - Urologist, Department of General Surgery, Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.

How long it takes to heal after mumps orchitis depends on the patient's condition, time and treatment, usually symptoms only last from 2 to 4 days and then disappear.

Mumps is a benign disease, which can be completely cured in about 10 days from the time of onset (not counting the incubation period). However, the recovery time can be shortened to about 7 days if the patient is treated effectively and promptly. On the contrary, when not treated properly, patients are very likely to experience dangerous health complications, especially mumps orchitis and potentially lead to infertility.
Usually, orchitis after mumps occurs on one side, only about 3-7% is inflammation in both testicles. The disease is common in adolescents during puberty, with an incidence of about 30%. Therefore, if parents find that their child has mumps and even after it has been cured, they should still pay attention to the signs of orchitis. Accordingly, the baby's scrotum is swollen, hot and red, causing very uncomfortable pain, especially when exercising vigorously such as running, jumping, cycling, ...

How long after mumps orchitis will go away depends on the patient's condition, the time of treatment and the method of treatment. With mumps orchitis, usually one testicle swells and causes pain for 2 to 4 days and then begins to collapse.
Pain in the testicles after mumps may be due to the recovery process after testicle inflammation. Patients should not be too worried, because with proper treatment, the rate of post-inflammatory testicular atrophy and infertility due to complications from mumps is very rare.
Patients can monitor the progress of their post-mumps testicular infection by talking with their doctor to plan a monitoring of testicular function after treatment based on tests to measure hormone levels and sperm chart. These are two important functional parameters of the testicles. Through the examination and ultrasound, the doctor can detect whether the testicle size has decreased or not. From there, the patient will receive medical intervention related to gynecology or urology if necessary.

When having orchitis after mumps, the patient should wear underwear to lift the testicles up, to help relieve tension and pain. Patients should rest in bed, avoid exercising a lot, especially avoid activities such as cycling, jogging... because it will cause more serious damage to the testicles, blood vessels in the testicles and birth canal. severely damaged testicles, the risk of testicular atrophy (about 30-40% of patients have testicular atrophy after 2-6 diseases). However, the possibility of infertility is very rare even with bilateral testicular atrophy.

To avoid mumps and testicular complications, parents should get their boys vaccinated against mumps early. Mumps vaccine is indicated for routine and urgent immunization of children against mumps. Vaccination is periodically carried out twice, at the age of 12-15 months and until the age of 6 (in case there is no history of mumps). The interval between the first vaccination and the booster dose should not be less than 6 months.
Urgent immunization is indicated for children 12 months of age and older, adolescents and adults if they have had contact with a patient with mumps but have never had the disease and have not been vaccinated according to the schedule. prevent mumps in advance. In the absence of contraindications, the mumps vaccine should be given no later than 72 hours after contact with an infected person.
When detecting signs of orchitis after mumps, the child should be taken to the hospital to be examined by a specialist and find an effective treatment, while helping to shorten the child's recovery time and minimize the risk of infection. adverse effects on health as well as fertility.