Sarah Got the Mumps!

When I think of mumps, I think of kids a generation or so ago, lying in bed with puffy cheeks and those old-fashioned, mushroom-shaped ice packs plopped on their heads. I certainly never pictured myself as one of those kids.

After all, I made it through childhood with nothing more serious than a case of the chicken pox. But just a few weeks ago, I went through a bout with the mumps. It began with the standard cold symptoms of a sore throat, runny nose, and headache. But soon my cheeks began to swell and my head started to feel like a bowling ball. I still never thought to self-diagnose myself with the mumps. It wasn’t until my doctor took one quick glance at me and pronounced “mumps!” that I even considered it.

The doctor was initially as perplexed as I was. I was vaccinated against mumps as a baby, and in all likelihood I should never have gotten the disease as an adult. I even had the MMR booster as a freshman college student. However, in Missouri this year, at least 13 other people have reported cases of mumps to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. That represents an 8.3% increase for this year, compared to the average number of cases over the last five years. Those reported cases were spread around the state, with incidences reported in Cass, Franklin, Greene, Phelps, and Polk counties and in cities like Independence, Kansas City, and St. Louis. And the numbers are likely higher. Most cases never get officially reported. And after a quick Google search, I learned that a case of the mumps isn’t nearly as odd or remote as it sounds.

Last April, mumps spread virally through a close-knit community of Orthodox Jews in New York City. More than 2500 people got sick in New York and New Jersey. In August of this year, mumps spread through Dordt College in northwest Iowa. And in late November of this year in London, the Middlesex-London Health Unit issued an alert for mumps.

The last major mumps outbreak in the U.S. happened in 2006 when more than 6,500 people got sick. And once there’s one case of mumps, outbreaks are relatively easy to achieve. The disease spreads quickly through close-knit groups of people, or in places where people live in close proximity to each other. College campuses are prime breeding grounds. All it takes is a few drops of saliva or mucus from an infected person, and you’re likely to pick it up.

So why do we have such short memories when it comes to mumps? I know I must have read about recent outbreaks in the news. I must have thought, 'Hmmm, it will never happen to me.' And just like me, in many of these cases, those affected had been vaccinated against the disease as children, and even gotten boosters as adults. But the shots are not meant to be 100% effective. The Centers for Disease Control reports that people who have received two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 9 times less likely to get mumps than unvaccinated people who have the same exposure to mumps virus. And because of recent debates over vaccines, and a push from some parents not to vaccinate their children, cases of mumps could be on the rise again.

Mumps is one of those diseases that has a very low fatality rate, and rarely produces serious side effects, but there’s no quick cure for it. Your salivary glands will swell, and your head will hurt. Doctors will simply say go to bed, sleep a lot, drink lots of fluids, and wait it out. And that’s just what I did. Two weeks later, I’m much better and I no longer resemble a chipmunk. Though I still rub my cheeks from time to time and I’ve been watching my colleagues with a keen eye to see if their cheeks start to look a little fuller than usual.



Sarah Ashworth

KBIA Assistant News Director

Links:
CDC’s FAQ on mumps outbreaks