Mumps cases emerge in colleges

From the Johns Hopkins News-Letter:

"In the largest U.S. mumps outbreak in 20 years, more than 1,200 cases of mumps have been reported, with many coming from college students.

This is a stark contrast to 2003, when less than 300 cases of the mumps were reported nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, there have been no reported deaths from the recent outbreak.

This phenomenon happens to be, reportedly, the biggest epidemic of mumps in the U.S. since 269 cases were reported in Douglas County, Kan., from October 1988 to April 1989.

In Iowa alone, 815 confirmed or suspected cases of mumps were reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The state has seen around five cases annually in recent years. Iowa's last major outbreak of mumps occurred in 1987 when 476 people were infected.

The first case of mumps was reported at a university in eastern Iowa in Dec., 2005. According to the CDC, out of several students who were screened for mumps, two tested positive.

The mumps, already spreading throughout Iowa, has spread to neighboring states like Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska.

The outbreaks in the Midwest colleges were most likely facilitated by the close proximity of students in the dormitories.

Health officials are still uncertain as to what caused the outbreak. One possibility is that the infection carried over from England, where the same strain of mumps has resulted in tens of thousands of cases over the past two years. Since the first appearences of the mumps in America were reported on college campuses, it has led to speculation that the outbreak was brought over by a college student.

Not long ago, two students at the Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., were diagnosed with the mumps. So far, state epidemiologists have not found evidence connecting these cases to the epidemic spreading in the Midwest. Interviews with the students are still being conducted to find a possible link.

Students fall into the common misconception that vaccination against the mumps will prevent infection.

However, the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is required for all children entering public schools in Iowa, does not guarantee protection from the mumps. It is only 95 percent effective."

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