On Friday evening, officials with Butler University reported on the confirmation of at least three mumps cases on campus.

Mumps/CDC
Mumps/CDC

According to local media, two of the students diagnosed with mumps lived in dorms, and one student lived in a sorority.

The three students left campus, and they are being treated at home.

Mumps is an acute infectious viral disease that can cause swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands in the cheeks and jaw.

The virus is spread from person to person by coughing and sneezing and by direct contact with saliva and discharges from the nose and throat of infected individuals. Mumps is contagious three days prior to and four days after the onset of symptoms.

Symptoms of mumps usually appear 14 days to 18 days of infection. They usually include fever, headache, and swelling and tenderness of one or more of the salivary glands, usually the parotid gland (located just below the front of the ear at the angle of the jaw). In mild cases the swelling may only last for three days to four days, but it may go on even up to a week or more. Approximately one-third of infected people do not exhibit symptoms. There is no specific treatment for mumps.

Most complications that may arise involve other organs. Mumps can cause pain and swelling of the testicles, deafness and arthritis. It can cause central nervous system disorders such as encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and meningitis (inflammation of the covering of the brain and spinal column).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1,000 mumps cases were reported nationally in 2015. As of Feb. 5, 69 cases have been reported to the federal health agency in 2016.

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