Abstract:

Background: Mumps is a viral infection of humans, primarily affection of humans, primarily affecting the salivary glands with worldwide distribution. The incidence of mumps ranges from 100-1,000 cases/100,000 populations, with epidemic peaks every 2-5 years in the absence of immunizations. The introduction of mumps vaccination has reduced to almost 99% of mumps cases and its associated complications in mant middle and high income countries. Despite being common in many countries with reported associated complications, there is scarcity of information on its epidemiology in Tanzania. This study aimed at determining the sero-prevalence and associated factors of mumps virus among children in Mwanza city, Tanzania.

Methods: A Community bases cross-sectional study 440 school children age 6-12 years was carried out from July to September 2018 in Mwanza city. Data was collected using a pre-tested structured data collection tool. Blood sample were collected and sera were used for detection of mumps virus antibodies by indirect enzymes linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA). Data was analyzed using STATA version 13 as per study objectives.

Results: The median age of enrolled children was 9(IQR, 8-11) years. Seroprevalence of mumps IgG antibodies was found to be 94(21.4%, 4%, 95% CI: 17.5 – 25.1) while that of IgM was 1 (0.23%, 95%CI: 0.02-0.6). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, only residing in urban areas (OR: 0.45, 95%CI: 0.28-0.71, P=0.001) protected children from being mumps IgG seropositive.

Conclusion and Recommendations: A significant proportion of children in rural area of Mwanza city have mumps IgG antibodies indicating the need to generate more data across the country so as to institute control measures including vaccination.