Nineteen months and more than 1,000 cases later, The Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) has declared the end of the statewide mumps outbreak.
“We are able to declare the outbreak over because there have been no new cases confirmed in the last 50 days, which totals two maximum incubation periods for the illness,” said Dr. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist. “To curb the number of people getting sick, we recommended an additional MMR vaccine dose especially for adolescents and adults. We appreciate the public and our healthcare providers heeding this recommendation and for their vigilance.”
Although the outbreak dose of MMR vaccine is no longer recommended, routine vaccination of all children should continue according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended schedule because mumps continues to circulate in the United States and worldwide. All adults born in 1957 and later should have documentation of at least one dose of MMR vaccine; adults at high risk of exposure to mumps—including international travelers, postsecondary school students, and healthcare workers—should receive two doses.
The outbreak began in March 2017 with two clusters of cases involving nine individuals on O‘ahu, and climbed steadily to 900 cases within a year. In total, 1,009 people with mumps were identified during the statewide outbreak.
- CDC on acute flaccid myelitis: ‘The number of cases reported in this time period in 2018 is similar to what was reported in the fall of 2014 and 2016’
- Gonorrhea cases jump 15 percent in Northern Ireland
- Battling biothreats: Dual anthrax-plague vaccine a strong candidate
- Dengue fever: Bangladesh reporting record year
- Zimbabwe cholera outbreak showing a downward trend, More than 9,000 cases reported
- Childhood vaccines: IDSA statement on new CDC data
