Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta reported two cases of mumps in Onondaga County since the last week of August. Both cases are students at Syracuse University. Dr. Gupta explained, “It is important to remember that mumps is a vaccine preventable disease and because of high vaccination rates, mumps is no longer very common in the United States. While sporadic cases can still occur among vaccinated individuals and outbreaks have occurred on college campuses across New York State and the US, the best way to protect against mumps is to get the measles-mumps-rubella shot (MMR shot).”

Mumps is a serious contagious viral disease passed through saliva and respiratory secretions of an ill individual. Symptoms include: fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears or along the jawline on one or both sides. Severe symptoms can include meningitis and swelling of the testis. An ill person can transmit the disease for two days before the onset of swollen salivary glands and 5 days afterwards. There is no specific treatment.
Prevent the spread of mumps:

• Check with your doctor to be sure that your vaccinations are up to date. The mumps vaccine is given as part of the MMR vaccine.
• If you have swollen salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides, seek medical care immediately and stay out of work and/or school for five days. Inform the student health service of your illness.
• Avoid sharing drinks, cover your cough, and stay home if you are sick.
• If you are a close contact of a person diagnosed with mumps, watch for symptoms for 25 days.

The Onondaga County Health Department is working closely with the New York State Department of Health and Syracuse University and will continue monitoring the situation and informing the public.

For more information about mumps visit www.cdc.gov/mumps.