HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii officials are urging all residents born in or after 1957 to get a mumps vaccination if they haven’t already done so.
The state Health Department announced Thursday that 16 additional people have mumps, which brings the state’s yearly total to 81 cases.
The total is more than double the number of cases in the last 10 years combined, Hawaii News Now reported (https://bit.ly/2rsry4g ). The state had just 10 mumps cases last year, four in 2015 and one in 2014.
Anyone without evidence of immunity to mumps should receive at least one vaccine dose, health department officials said.
In December, U.S. officials declared the country was in the midst of its worst mumps outbreak in a decade.
The disease is not considered life-threatening, but there could be lasting side effects, including the swelling of salivary glands and jaws.
Mumps is highly contagious; symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite. Some people with mumps have very mild or no symptoms at all.
People who have been exposed to mumps and are not vaccinated should not attend school, work or travel from day 12 through day 25 after exposure, the Health Department said.
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