Mumps

[hinoderhiannon]

I got an email from the school health center warning about a mumps outbreak in the Midwest

Comments

[withyour]

Yeah, there's this mumps epidemic right now that started in Iowa, and right now they're trying to contain it but it's not working v well. Two or three people at Luther have been diagnosed with it, and there have been something like 5 times as many cases of mumps diagnosed in Iowa as there have been in the entire country for the last 50 years.

I love college and the way it is a breeding-ground for forgotten diseases.

Did you guys have warnings about whooping cough this fall? Because a girl in my voice studio definitely had it in October. Eesh.

[beccastareyes]

Aren't people normally vaccinated against mumps? I think I had the shot before entering college (and again before grad school). Having epidemics means that not enough people are getting vaccinated -- if most people are, even the unvaccinated ones will be mostly safe (not enough hosts to support an epidemic).

[withyour]

I guess the thing is that since cases of mumps dropped off due to the vaccinations, people have been a little more lax about innoculating their kids. Most of the cases I've read about (it's in the newspaper every day now, and every day for the last month, I swear) are people who either were not vaccinated as children or whose vaccination records were incomplete or unclear.

[lady_rae_marie]

it's a strain that people aren't immunized too... eep... not cool... scary.. the world is creating more diseases because we keep protecting ourselves against them. My mom had mumps when she was little lol. she told me it wasn't fun.

I want a cookie!!! i'm so hungry...