Daily Brief: 2017.4.14
THREAT ANALYSIS
Texas mumps cases reach 22-year high
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is investigating multiple outbreaks of mumps throughout the state. The outbreaks have resulted in Texas experiencing the highest incidence of mumps in 22 years. So far, 221 mumps cases have been reported this year. This is the largest total since there were 234 cases in 1994.
(Sources: NBC News, Texas DSHS)
Mumps is a contagious virus transmitted through contact with an infected person's respiratory droplets or saliva. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and muscle aches that precede the swelling of the salivary glands. In children, mumps is usually a mild illness, but adults can sometimes suffer serious complications. Mumps can be difficult to contain because it features a long incubation period of 12 to 25 days and about a third of cases never develop symptoms.
(Sources: CDC, Mayo Clinic)
One of the possible exposures reportedly occurred on South Padre Island. DSHS alerted other states and, as of April 11, has been notified of 13 mumps cases in people who traveled to South Padre Island between March 8 and March 22 from six states, including two cases from Texas.
(Source: Texas DSHS, KRGV)
ACTION STEPS
- Encourage all patients who have not done so to receive a mumps vaccination, most commonly administered as part of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
- Understand the potential complications of mumps for adults, such as inflammation of the testicles, ovaries and breasts, and increased risk of miscarriage in women in the first trimester of pregnancy.
- Review protocol for treating mumps, including recommendation of five days of isolation after a patient's glands begin to swell.
(Source: CDC, Immunization Action Coalition)