Mumps potentially more dangerous for adults than children

Over the last few weeks, there has been an outbreak of mumps in Columbia, specifically on the University of Missouri campus. The school has confirmed 17 students have been diagnosed with the virus and they are waiting on test results for more students.

“There have been sporadic cases here and there but personally I have not ever seen a case,” Dr. John Wilson with COMO Cubs Pediatrics said. “This is the first outbreak I’ve seen.”

The number of reported mumps cases nationwide varies from 100 to 1000 each year, but there are outliers with much higher counts. In 2010 there were 2,612 cases reported according to the CDC; two years later there were 229. As of October 8, there have been 2,345 cases reported to the CDC. There’s no definitive reason for the stark difference in numbers.

Most people were vaccinated for mumps, measles, and rubella as a kid with the common MMR vaccine. Reports suggests the mumps portion of that vaccine may be weaker than the other two. But even with the full vaccine which comes in two doses, the CDC says on average it is only about 88% effective for full immunity.

“You should be able to develop, just with the vaccine, lifelong immunity to it,” Dr. Wilson said. “But that is not always the case. You don’t always respond fully to the vaccine and your immunity can wane overtime.”

Recently, some parents have decided against vaccinating their children. Dr. Wilson said he hasn’t seen many of those cases in mid-Missouri.

“There’s been a number of measles outbreaks in recent years and for sure those we know for a fact those were related to unvaccinated kids, ” Dr. Wilson said. “Those were in areas where there were enough kids that had not been vaccinated that they were starting to develop these pockets of cases.”

Dr. Wilson said to the best of his knowledge, all of the Mizzou students infected had their childhood vaccines.

“As far as this outbreak here, there’s no evidence to say that it’s because of unvaccinated kids.”

Symptoms of mumps includes a fever, headache, and most notably, swollen salivary glands under one or both ears. Long term effects for adults can be more severe including swelling (encephalitis) of the brain and the tissue covering the brain (meningitis). In rare cases, mumps can cause permanent deafness.

Dr. Wilson said theoretically you should not get mumps more than once, if at all, after getting the vaccine. Unlike the flu vaccine, medicine has been able to create a strong vaccine for mumps than for the flu which changes frequently.

“We just have not been able to find a protein on the flu virus that our immune system will respond to that doesn’t change year to year,” Dr. Wilson said. “The flu mutates very easily so every year its a little bit different virus that’s circulates so that’s why every year we have to come up with a new vaccine. For the mumps vaccine we have found a core protein for mumps that doesn’t change and most people respond to that part of the virus and produce life long immunity.”

Dr. Wilson said it is likely mid-Missouri will see more than the current 17 cases of mumps reported in Mizzou students.

“It incubates for up to two weeks before you start to show symptoms so you could actually spread it before you really have symptoms,” Dr. Wilson said. “And about a third of people who get mumps don’t get the big swelling so you don’t necessarily know they have mumps.”

Mumps is a virus and can not be treated with antibiotics. Doctors recommend staying home for about five days and avoid other people to limit the risk of spreading the virus. Doctors recommend fluids and rest and waiting it out to feel better.

The best way to avoid catching the mumps are the common ways to avoid getting sick, including washing your hands, not sharing glasses or utensils, and avoiding touching your face or eyes.