Posted 05/03/06
Mumps the word
Over 1200 cases of the mumps have been reported this year in the U.S.
Kristen Totten-Greenwood | contributing writer
ktottengreen@smcvt.edu
A mumps outbreak has occurred in Iowa and throughout the Midwest.
What are Mumps exactly?
Mumps is a viral infection spread by saliva.
According to Susan Schoenfeld, the Deputy State Epidemiologist of Vermont, mumps can be transmitted from one person to another through coughing and sneezing. The virus can also survive a short amount of time on objects, she says.
Symptoms of mumps include headache, fever, muscle ache, and tiredness.
Schoenfeld says the most classic symptom of mumps is something called "parotitis," swollen and tender salivary glands, which are located under the ears.
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Swollen glands are one of the more obvious symptoms of the mumps.
(Jelean Durrant, photo)
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The only cure to the virus is letting the body heal itself, Schoenfeld says.
“For most people, mumps isn’t a serious infection. However, there are some complications that can occur,” she says.
Rare effects of the virus can be swollen testicles or swollen breasts.
Another complication which can form, Schoenfeld says, is "Septic Meningitis," an infection covering the brain or spinal cord. It is not life threatening but it is painful, she says.
Kevin Teale, the spokes person for the Iowa Department of Public Health, says one of the difficulties with mumps is that it could take two to three weeks after exposure for symptoms to occur.
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the illness lasts an average of five days.
The midwest outbreak
“It [the outbreak] originally started in eastern Iowa where we have a number of college campuses, both big state universities and smaller private schools,” Teale says.
Schoenfeld says that because people in dormitories are usually in close contact, transmission can be easier there.
According to CDC, the first reports of the current outbreak were in December 2005, when two students tested positive.
“We usually have a few cases a year in Iowa so when we saw cases in January we didn’t think it was anything unusual,” Teale says. “By mid January we clearly had more cases and we knew something was going on.”
Teale says that as of April 27 there is 1273 cases of the mumps in the U.S. "About 30 percent of those are at an 18 to 22-year-old population or roughly around college age,” he says.
Iowa is now making sure anybody who hasn’t been vaccinated gets a first dose, Schoenfeld says. For those who have already been vaccinated once, Schoenfeld says the state is making sure they receive a second dose.
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Mumps shots are required for all St. Michael's students before attending the college. The shots are available in the schools health services department.
(Jelean Durrant, photo)
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The Iowa Department of Public Health has been working with colleges around the state to warn them about the infection. Starting last week they had special clinics to allow 18-22 year olds to receive a vaccine in 35 of Iowa’s 99 counties.
“One unusual thing with this outbreak is that they are seeing a number of cases who have had two doses of the vaccine,” Schoenfeld says.
Teale says one shot of the mumps vaccine gives about 80 percent protection and two shots gives about 90 percent, but there aren't any number of shots that give 100 percent protection. Some people with multiple shots do end up getting mumps, he says.
Due to the country's high immunization rates the outbreak has not spread out of control, Schoenfeld says.
At this time, there are no changes in treatment or other ways to treat the disease besides the vaccine.
Vermont not yet affected
“All the other states surrounding Iowa have reported mumps cases this year,” Teale says. “The risk is still low outside the Midwest.”
Gloria French, a registered nurse at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt., says she doesn't think Vermonters should worry about a mumps outbreak in their state.
"We really haven’t dealt with any mumps,” says Gloria French “We haven’t had any problems where the department of health has had to send out any alarms.”
Schoenfeld says that mumps is a reportable disease in Vermont, so when there is a case or expected cases, doctors are to report it to the health department so that they can see if there are any public measures that need to be taken.
“We haven’t confirmed any cases in Vermont this year,” Schoenfeld says. "In Vermont, college students are supposed to have two doses of measles-containing vaccine, although it doesn’t specifically say mumps almost everyone gets the MMR,” Schoenfeld says.
MMR is short for the measles-mumps-rubella shot.
“We give out the MMR shot at one-years-old and five-years-old,” French says.
A little history
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Unlike years ago, vaccines for the mumps are now readily available to the public.
(Jelean Durrant, photo)
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“Before the vaccine first became available in the late 1960’s, people pretty much universally got mumps,” Schoenfeld says. “It was a childhood disease.”
According to KidsHealth.org there were more then 200,000 cases a year in the U.S. before the vaccine. After the vaccine was introduced the number of cases decreased.
“We had a small outbreak in 1987 where we had almost 500 cases," Teale says. "Before that you have to go back to the mid 1960’s before we had this many cases in Iowa.
Schoenfeld says that in the late 1980’s public health and school health were proactive about having students get two doses of measles-containing vaccine as a result of a measles outbreak. The vaccine for the measles was a combined vaccine (MMR), which Schoenfeld says helped get the country in "pretty good shape for this situation."
