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Vaccines Urged to Slow Midwest Mumps Rash: Four Cases Reported in California This Year.

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Barbara Anderson, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Jun. 16--Before college students move into dormitories and children leave for summer camp, they need two doses of mumps vaccine, the state public health officer says.

The state also recommends that camp counselors, overseas travelers and health-care workers get mumps shots.

Vaccinating people against mumps can help prevent an outbreak of the disease now in the Midwest from spreading to California, said Dr. Mark Horton, the state health officer.

"Prevention is the key since there is no specific treatment for mumps," he said in a written statement Thursday.

Thus far this year, Kings County has reported three confirmed cases of mumps. Statewide, there have been four cases, according to state health officials. Fresno, Tulare and Madera counties have had no mumps cases.

Nicole Geha, supervising public health nurse for communicable disease in Kings County, said the three mumps cases occurred in February. The cases ranged from an 8-year-old to a 56-year-old, she said. The three people were not family members.

Last year, the county had one case of mumps, Geha said. "We're a small county, so any numbers we're concerned about."

In the Midwest, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 2,597 cases of mumps in 11 states through May 2. The majority of mumps cases were reported from Iowa. Other states with high case totals were Kansas, Illinois and Nebraska. Many of the ill have been college students.

The most common symptoms of mumps are fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and swollen salivary glands at the jaw. In some cases, it can cause inflammation of the brain, breast, ovaries or testicles. Inflamed testicles can lead to male infertility. Other infrequent complications include miscarriages and hearing loss.

Health officials in the central San Joaquin Valley said people should check with private doctors about getting mumps shots. But health departments have supplies of the vaccine.

Two doses of mumps vaccine are recommended, said Kristi Helgeson, a Fresno County public health nurse.

"The first dose protects about 80% of people and after two doses, it protects about 90% of people," she said.

Adults who cannot verify whether they have had two doses of vaccine can follow this state guideline: Those born after 1957 should receive two doses and those born before 1957 should consider having at least one dose.

Children should get their first dose of vaccine after their first birthday and a second dose before entering kindergarten. Most California children born after 1987 will have had two doses.

The state provides low-cost or free immunizations for children without insurance.

The reporter can be reached at banderson@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6310.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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