About Pathogenesis of the Vaccine Mumps Meningitis

Meningeal reactions are common with mumps patients. It is considered that such reactions are due to the direct impact of the mumps virus on meningitis. With the development of the mumps vaccines, this opinion also included the vaccinated people who are considered at risk of serious post vaccinal meningitis. In this article, the author expresses the opinion that these reactions are pathogenetically conditioned and inevitable, and are due to inflammation of the choroid plexus, caused by both virulent and vaccinal strains. The inflamation leads to enhanced secretion of cerebrospinal fluid, causing an increase in the intracranial pressure and marked meningeal symptoms. On the basis of the morphological changes in the choroid plexus in experiments with monkeys, as well as on the clinical symptoms of meningeal reactions in vaccinated children - rare, in a mild form, shortlived, and without any consequences - the author believes these reactions to be forms of meningism, not of meningitis.