By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Officials at the College of Charleston in South Carolina are reporting an addition eight mumps cases on campus, bringing the total to 26 since September and through Nov. 7.

School officials  noted that most of the cases were no longer infectious.

Staff members at the school had isolated those testing positive while verifying student immunization records.

Mumps virus/CDC

Mumps is a contagious viral illness that occurs worldwide. The virus is spread by contact with saliva respiratory tract (mouth and nose) droplets of a sick person.

Mumps is preventable. The mumps vaccine is a part of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination.Two doses of MMR are recommended: The first dose is about 78% effective against mumps; two-dose vaccine effectiveness is 88%.

MMR vaccine prevents most, but not all, cases of mumps and complications caused by the disease. People who have received two doses of the MMR vaccine are about nine times less likely to get mumps than unvaccinated people who have the same exposure to mumps virus.

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From January 1 to October 11, 2019, 48 states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. reported mumps infections in 2,618 people to CDC.