Tracking Mumps
From Columbia Daily Tribune:
"As of Friday, 74 Missourians, including three Boone County residents, were known to have the mumps, an acute viral illness that causes fevers, headaches and swelling of salivary glands. A mumps outbreak has plagued the Midwest this year, with Iowa reporting more than 600 cases since January."
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From Black Hills News:
"PIERRE, S.D. – The Department of Health announced today that it is working with colleges, universities and technical schools in the state to schedule mumps immunization clinics. As of April 28, South Dakota had reported 3 confirmed cases of mumps and several suspect cases were also under investigation."
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From WVLT Knoxville:
"The majority of cases in this particular outbreak are occurring among 18 to 25 year olds, primarily in Iowa, but are also under investigation in eight neighboring states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
It's unknown why this Mumps outbreak is occurring, especially when most US residents receive a vaccination for it during childhood."
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It's not deadly, but it's spreading, and there's no explanation for it. The UK is up to their eyeballs in mumps this season as well, maybe this is a Bush/Blair team-up to see how effective college kids work as a transmission vector for future (or current) bioweapons.
1 comment:
"maybe this is a Bush/Blair team-up to see how effective college kids work as a transmission vector for future (or current) bioweapons" Ssshhh! Everyone knows that college kids are a great vector, especially during spring break, when they're experimenting with alcohol and "birds & bees" activity. The trick is to refine the behavior and be able to trigger it at will - it's a hassle to have to wait for a break in the school calendar to deploy such a weapon.
Seriously, though, most educational environments are ideal transmission grounds for illnesses. College is perhaps the worst because of the population - away from home, not always eating/sleeping right, close contact, and potentially able to quickly carry germs to distant areas (eg, on spring break).
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