The Vanderbilt Student Health Center announced that their has been several mumps cases (an exact number was not disclosed) reported on campus. According to a release on their website, the school notes:
The Student Health Center is carefully monitoring the mumps situation on the Vanderbilt campus. We are working closely with public health officials from the Metropolitan Nashville Health Department, the Tennessee Department of Health, as well as experts in Infection Prevention at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Last month, the Tennessee Department of Health expressed concern about the increase in mumps cases including the mumps outbreak in neighboring Arkansas.
“We are talking about this now because we are obviously worried about the significant rise in mumps cases in neighboring states and want everyone to be sure they are up to date on immunizations before it’s too late,” said TDH Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH.
Mumps is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is spread through indirect or direct contact with an infected person’s nose or throat droplets, such as when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is best known for the puffy cheeks and swollen jaw that it causes because of inflammation of the salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides. Other common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue and loss of appetite. Some people who get mumps have very mild or no symptoms, and often they do not know they have the disease.
Most people with mumps recover completely in a few weeks. However, mumps can occasionally cause severe complications, especially in adults. Treatment includes rest, fluids, and over-the-counter medicine to reduce fever and discomfort. Since mumps is caused by a virus, antibiotics are not used as a treatment.
People with mumps can spread the infection for up to two days before, and five days after, symptoms develop, so those infected can spread the disease before they feel sick. Symptoms typically appear 16 to 18 days after infection, but this period can range from 12 to 25 days after infection.
From January 1 to January 28, 2017, 27 states in the U.S. reported mumps infections in 495 people to CDC.
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