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Iowa Officials Concerned About Mumps Cases

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 21:00 CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa - State health officials said they are concerned about a rare strain of virus behind an outbreak of 60 mumps cases in Iowa.

Mary Gilchrist, director of the state's University Hygienic Laboratory, said the genotype G strain is infrequently seen in the United States. With the number jumping from 17 cases just two weeks ago, she predicted there could be more outbreaks this spring.

"If the past predicts the future, it will get worse in April," she said.

So far, there are 18 cases recorded in Johnson County, 16 in Dubuque, five in Black Hawk County and four in Scott County. Two cases were confirmed in Linn County, while other counties have one to three cases, according to the lab's Web site.

The patients with confirmed cases of mumps range in age from 11 to 41, but Gilchrist said half have been college students.

She said the virus may have come from Europe, but a similar strain has been detected in New Jersey.

"Perhaps it came over on an airplane," Gilchrist said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the source.

Symptoms of mumps include fever, headache and swollen salivary glands at the jaw line, below and in front of ears.

Mumps is generally a mild illness for healthy people and is spread through coughing or sneezing. It can cause serious complications including deafness in children and spontaneous abortion in pregnant women.

A mumps vaccine was introduced in 1967. People born before 1957 are believed to have been exposed to mumps during childhood and therefore should be immune, according to the CDC.

The last mumps outbreak in Iowa was in 1987, when 467 cases were records. Since then, less than 60 cases were reported annually, with only one to three cases reported in the past five years.

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On the Net:

University Hygienic Laboratory: http://www.uhl.uiowa.edu/  

Mumps Information: http://www.uhl.uiowa.edu/services/diseases/nonrespiratory/mumps/index.html 

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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