Deafness after mumps more common than thought

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Japanese researchers say mumps-related hearing loss in children may be 20 times more common than previously suggested.

"Deafness is a rare but important complication of mumps virus infection," the researchers note in a report in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

They determined the incidence of sudden hearing loss in children with mumps based upon a population-based office survey of more than 7500 patients from 40 pediatric practices in Japan, a country where mumps is endemic (constantly present).

Among 7400 children who took hearing tests after the onset of mumps, 7, or 0.1 percent, had confirmed hearing loss.

Hearing loss in the 7 children was confined to one ear but was "severe and did not improve over time," the researchers note.

"We were surprised so many people get hearing loss after mumps," Dr. Hiromi Hashimoto, from Hashimoto Pediatric Clinic in Osaka, Japan, told Reuters Health.

None of the 7 children with mumps-related hearing loss had been vaccinated against mumps.

"I'm afraid many Japanese people, including physicians, don't know about mumps deafness," Hashimoto said. "Many Japanese people believe mumps is a slight illness if only caught in childhood. We want many people to have a proper understanding about mumps and the importance of vaccination."

In a commentary on the Hashimoto's report, Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin from the University of Pennsylvania, Doylestown, highlights the lack of universal mumps vaccination in Japan.

The absence of vaccination against mumps is "surprising for a developed country," Plotkin wrote, "and this regrettable policy must be changed for the sake of Japanese children."