Mumps crisis: 200 unvaccinated students forced to stay home

Medical Adina Camarasu
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Auburn School District was strongly recommended by King County Public Health to suspend more than 200 students from school due to a mumps epidemy.

The diseased students have not been vaccinated and they won’t be able to return to school until 25 days after the last registered case has passed.

The school is fighting hardly to find methods that will allow the ill children to keep up with the rest of the students.

Over 60% of the registered cases are children aged 17 or younger. 59% already had their MMR vaccination.

‘The vaccination is effective, but not perfect. Some people with confirmed cases were vaccinated’, said a spokesperson for King County Public Health.

‘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’, he added.

‘However, some people who receive two doses of MMR can still get mumps, especially if they have prolonged, close contact with someone who has the disease’, the spokesman concluded.

Mumps is an acute viral infectious disease, highly contagious, caused by a paramyxovirus, manifested mainly through the inflammation of parotid glands, the major salivary glands.

Mumps is transmitted by air (inhaling drops of saliva of a sick person).

It is often transmitted during winter, particularly in some collectivities, such as schools. Most commonly affected are children.

The incubation period lasts between 17 and 21 days. It is followed by a mild fever and ear pain for one or two days.

The patient is contagious a week before the symptoms appear and about 8 days after they pass.