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US mumps cases top 1,100

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 April 2006, 16:55 CDT

By Lisa Richwine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of mumps cases has risen to 1,100 in eight Midwestern states and prompted the federal government to distribute vaccines from its stockpile to stop the outbreak's spread, health officials said on Wednesday.

The outbreak is the largest mumps epidemic in the United States in more than 20 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Most are in Iowa, where 815 cases have been recorded, the CDC said.

An additional 350 mumps cases have been reported in Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Missouri and Oklahoma, officials said. Investigators are reviewing possible cases in seven other states that were not named.

Mumps usually is not serious and rarely kills. None of the cases in the recent outbreak have been fatal.

Once a common childhood illness, mumps was virtually eradicated with widespread use of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

But the vaccine is effective in only about 90 percent of people, which could partly explain the recent outbreak, CDC Director Julie Gerberding said.

"Although this is a very good vaccine, it's not perfect," Gerberding said at a news conference.

Many college-age students may have received just one of the two recommended doses when they were young, and therefore may not have the same level of immunity as others, she said.

Federal officials urged students, people who work in school or university settings and health-care workers who did not get both doses to get a second dose.

The CDC is sending 25,000 doses of MMR vaccine to Iowa for that purpose, Gerberding said. Drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. has donated an additional 25,000 doses for health officials to use as they see fit.

Investigators do not yet know how many of the people infected with mumps were vaccinated. So far, "we have absolutely no information to suggest there's a problem with the vaccine," Gerberding said.

Mumps is a viral infection of the salivary glands. It causes unpleasant illness including fever, headache and swelling of the glands around the jaw.

Up to 10 percent of patients may develop encephalitis. Other serious complications that sometimes occur include meningitis, inflammation of the testicles, ovaries or pancreas, or permanent deafness. There is no approved treatment.

The mumps virus is transmitted by coughing and sneezing. Experts say it is about as infectious as influenza. People can transmit mumps to others for three days before they have any symptoms.

In the United States, an average of 265 mumps cases have been reported each year since 2001. Mumps vaccinations started in 1967.

Source: REUTERS

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