On Oct. 8, students were notified by a campus-wide email that a second student had been tested positive for the mumps.
“Given that the two students who have contracted mumps have received the MMR vaccination, we are reminded that the vaccine prevents most, but not all, cases of mumps,” the email read.
The MMR vaccination is a two-vaccine series; the first shot is given to people after their first birthday and the second shot any time after that. Angela Brown, director of student health services, said some people wait to receive their second shot until right before they come to college.
“Two MMR vaccinations give 88 to 90 percent [immunity] from measles, mumps and rubella,” Brown said. “But it is not 100 percent.”
According to the email, the individual student left campus last weekend and saw his or her physician. The student is no longer contagious and returned to campus on Oct. 7. Brown said the Mary Walker Health Center does not recommend booster shots at this point in time.
“Having already taken precautionary measures over the past month to ensure that the SUNY Oswego campus community was vaccinated, we will continue to closely monitor the health of our entire campus,” the campus-wide email read.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, mumps is known to cause puffy cheeks and jaw due to swollen salivary glands. The most common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, parotitis and loss of appetite.
“If any student comes in with symptoms of mumps, then they are asked to wear a mask and are taken a little more serious,” Brown said. “Then we assess to see if we need to do testing on that person individually.”
Brown said there is not much that can be done to stop the outbreak, but they can work to prevent future cases.
“At this point, it is just making sure people are educated and making sure people are vaccinated,” Brown said. “Also making sure people aren’t sharing drinks or food, making sure they are doing good hand washing and knowing the signs and symptoms.”
Brown said mumps is most contagious two days before the person feels any symptoms, which is why it is so easily spread.
According to the CDC, as of Sept. 10, 1,897 cases of the mumps have been reported this year in 44 states across the U.S. In 2015, 1,057 cases were reported. The two largest outbreaks in 2015 and 2016 involved several hundred university students from Iowa and Illinois. Since the pre-vaccination era, there has been a 99 percent decrease in mumps cases.
On Sept. 14, the health department elevated Oswego State to an outbreak status due to the mumps outbreak in New York State. Brown said Oswego State is still in outbreak status. “At some point, hopefully this will go away and then we will be at no status,” Brown said. “If there is a long enough span between this and if we ever have another case, then it will be ‘is this from the original case or is it a brand new case?’”
Lorenzo D’Amore, an Oswego State sophomore, said he wants the school to require students to get the shots for all types of disease that could harm the campus community.
“I think the school is doing a good job at treating the mumps outbreak,” D’Amore said. “But it doesn’t change the fact that it is something that should have been prevented from the beginning.”
