This actually is the largest outbreak of mumps that we have seen in this country in more than 20 years.
Quotes about mumps (15 Quotes)
Keep your distance. If you know someone is infected, go to the doctor and get checked out. A blood test is the only way to confirm whether or not you have the mumps.
No vaccine is 100 percent effective though we hope it is very effective. We know the vaccine would help so people wouldn't get the complications from mumps if they did get it that, maybe they'd get a milder case if they did get it.
The vaccine is working. The vaccine certainly was made to cover this particular strain because it's a fairly common strain of mumps.
Fortunately, for most people, mumps is a fairly mild illness and they get over it quickly. Some people may have it without even any symptoms and not even be aware that they're spreading it.
The Department of Public Health is recommending that anyone who has only received one vaccination for mumps see a physician for the second dosage because of the number of mumps cases.
The best protection against the mumps is the vaccine. We have seen that work successfully in the past. So we hope that will be successful this time.
Clearly, air travel puts people in a confined situation, so the possibility of transmission of mumps is very realistic.
Mumps have been in Iowa for the last 10 years, but this year we've had more mumps cases than we've had in the last 10 years combined.
It's also important for people to understand that mumps can sometimes develop into serious complications, including deafness, sterility and even death.
The college environment is a perfect situation for infectious disease, especially mumps. It's shared through saliva, so students can get it by living so close together, coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks and kissing. It tends to spread fairly easily.
It's hard to predict the exact pattern of the mumps virus, or where it is going to travel next.
'I cannot go to school today,' Said little Peggy Ann McKay. 'I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash, and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. .... 'What's that What's that you say You say today is ... Saturday G'bye, I'm going out to play'
With the probable cases, we've received enough information to classify them by symptoms as mumps, but we don't have lab confirmation. The suspect case is being tested, but we don't have lab confirmation or enough information to assess the symptoms.
On one hand, given the 800-plus cases we have, this is a serious situation. On the same token, we have 2.8 million people in Iowa, so the relative risk of any single visitor getting mumps is extremely low.