Current Outbreak - Have You Had Measles or Chickenpox? If Not You May Get The Mumps.
- From: Strabo <strabo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:32:02 -0500
Mumps is a pox, part of the family of smallpox, chickenpox,
measles and other pustule forming viruses.
A case of mumps is rougher on adults than on children
and may cause meningitis or deafness and it is particularly
bad for adult males where the disease may "drop" to
the testes causing atrophy and/or sterility.
The following turn of events illustrates the value of
building a natural resistance to viruses.
Here are two articles tracing the path of a US outbreak of mumps.
Mumps in Iowa
Des Moines, March 28, 2006 - It first showed up in January and by
the end of February. Iowa had 26 cases of the mumps. Three weeks
later, that number more than doubled. Today, health officials
believe there are more than 200 Iowans with the disease. Iowa
hasn't seen an outbreak like this in nearly 20 years. About
one-third of Iowa counties are reporting cases of mumps. Dubuque
county alone has already had 85 cases this year. But who's at
risk?
Health officials say it's not kids that should worry as much as
the Baby Boomer generation. That's the age group health officials
say might not have had a second dose of the M.M.R., or measles,
mumps, rubella vaccine.
The number of mumps cases peaked in 1968, when the state reported
more than 12,000 cases. Iowa hasn't seen an outbreak like this
for decades.
"We just knew they were going to have measels, chicken pox, mumps."
Growing up Carol Stevenson says getting the mumps was a fact of
life. She had it, just like most everyone at the senior center
here in Des Moines. "I remember I was in grade school...9 maybe
10." That was about the same age her kids got it.
However the disease skipped a generation. None of her 8
grandchildren ever came down with the mumps. Mainly because a
vaccine- which is 95 percent effective- is required for all
school-aged children. Now, the state health department says the
mumps are now showing up in that 3 to 18-year-old age group.
While Drake hasn't seen any cases, college aged students are most
at risk. They account for about a third of all cases in Iowa.
Health officials say the virus is spread by coughing or sneezing
and campuses act much like a breeding ground for diseases like
the mumps.
The Centers for Disease Control says the mumps virus in Iowa has
shown up in other parts of the world. It's similar to a strain
seen in an outbreak in the United Kingdom in 2004 and 2005.
Iowa Mumps Outbreak Hops State Line to Neb.
Thu Mar 30, 9:22 PM ET
LINCOLN, Neb. - Several cases of mumps have been confirmed in
Adams County in south-central Nebraska, the Nebraska Health and
Human Services System said Thursday.
Potential cases in Jefferson and Hamilton counties were also
being investigated.
Mumps is a highly contagious viral infection of the salivary
glands. It's spread through coughing or sneezing or through
direct contact with saliva or mucus.
Health experts say mumps can lead to deafness, meningitis, a
swelling of the testicles or ovaries and, rarely, death.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed 219 cases of
mumps so far this year, and Nebraska officials said the people
with mumps in Adams County have connections to Iowa.
Nebraska's state epidemiologist, Dr. Tom Safranek, said people 30
to 65 years old who haven't had the disease or been vaccinated
are most at risk.
Symptoms include fever, headache and swollen glands under the
jaw.
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