| Mumps Epidemic hits Iowa with record number of cases |
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Mumps - a viral infection epidemic is sweeping across Iowa State in the United States’ biggest outbreak in at least 17 years, frustrating health officials and distressing parents.
Mumps is a disease caused by a virus that usually spreads through saliva and can taint many parts of the body, especially the parotid salivary glands. These glands, which produce saliva for the mouth, are found toward the back of each cheek, in the area between the ear and jaw. In cases of mumps, these glands distinctively swell and become sore.
Mumps was a common disease until the mumps vaccine was introduced in 1967. Earlier to the introduction of the vaccine, more than 200,000 cases happened each year in the United States. From then until now the number of cases has dropped to fewer than 1,000 a year, and epidemics have become fairly rare. As in the pre-vaccine era, most cases of mumps are still in children ages 5 to 14, but the proportional rate of young adults who become infected has been rising slowly over the last two decades. Mumps infections are rare in children younger than 1 year old.
As per the recent report there have been 245 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of mumps reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health authorities since mid-January. The U.S. federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is the nation’s only outbreak, which it defines as five or more cases in a concentrated area. It said the same mumps strain has caused tens of thousands of cases of the mumps in a major outbreak in Britain over the past two years.
An epidemiologist Dr. Patricia Quinlisk of Iowa State says, "We are calling this an epidemic." Dr. Patricia further explained that mumps has swept more than one-third of the state and it seems that it is not confined to certain age groups or other sectors of the population rather spread across different groups of people.
She said state has had only about five cases of mumps a year in recent years, and this is its first large outbreak in nearly 20 years. She informed that the outbreak has started sweeping from eastern Iowa and is possibly spreading into the neighboring states of Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska.
Dr. Patricia said, "We’re trying to figure out why is it happening, why is it happening in Iowa and why is it happening right now. We don’t know." The CDC and Local health authorities are trying hard to find out the causes of the epidemic. One theory is that the infection was brought over from England, probably by a college student as about 23 percent of the 245 reported patients were found in college.
The CDC said the Iowa’s biggest epidemic of mumps was in Douglas County, Kansas with 269 cases were reported from October 1988 to April 1989.
Symptoms of mumps include fever of up to 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius), headache and loss of appetite. It can cause serious complications, such as meningitis, damage to the testicles and deafness. The most renowned indication of the mumps is swelling and pain in the parotid glands, making the child look like a hamster with food in its cheeks. The glands usually become increasingly swollen and sour over a period of 1 to 3 days. The trouble gets worse when the child swallows, talks, chews, or drinks acidic juices just like orange juice.
The law of Iowa State necessitates schoolchildren to be vaccinated against measles and rubella, and the mumps vaccine is included in the same shot. As per the Public Health Department, at least 66 percent of the reported 245 patients this year had took the recommended two-shot vaccination, while 14 percent had received one dose.
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