BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - At least six Louisiana State University students have come down with the mumps, and any others with swollen, tender salivary glands should see a doctor and stay home, Louisiana’s health department said Monday.
“We have not identified any other clusters of cases of mumps, but out of an abundance of caution we are working to provide information to alert others, including schools, universities, and health care providers, of the signs and symptoms,” department press secretary Kelly Zimmerman said in an email Monday.
Zimmerman said the number of cases at LSU as of Monday was greater than five but fewer than 10.
Assistant state health officer Parham Jaberi told The Advocate (https://bit.ly/2mTxd3e ) that some people at LSU might not yet have been tested or even shown symptoms.
Symptoms show up anywhere from 12 to 25 days after exposure, with incubation averaging 16 to 18 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Jaberi said Friday’s warning was given because mumps spreads very easily.
The department has been on the watch since more than 300 cases of mumps were reported in Arkansas over the past two months, he said.
The virus is often spread by coughing and sneezing.
In men and adolescent boys, it can cause painful swelling of the testicles, called orchitis.
According to the CDC, 1,077 cases of mumps were reported between Jan. 1 and Feb. 25 in 37 states and the District of Columbia. More than 5,300 cases were reported last year, compared to 229 in 2012.
Before the U.S. vaccination program for mumps began in 1967, about 186,000 cases a year were reported - and the actual number was probably much greater than that, according to the CDC’s website.
Incoming LSU students must provide proof they’ve either had two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine or are immune to the virus, WAFB-TV reported (https://bit.ly/2nmLcfE ).
The vaccine is about 88 percent effective in preventing mumps, but those people who get it despite the vaccine are less likely to develop serious complications, according to the CDC.
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