Mumps epidemic hits U.S.

[HuckleB]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=eb5bcba0-51a8-46a6-9959-f6927dc737f7&k=60987

"Seven Midwestern states are dealing with mumps.

An epidemic in Iowa has grown into more than 600 suspected cases.

Health officials, calling it a serious threat, say it's appeared in half of Iowa's 99 counties.

Other states also seeing cases are Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Officials at Southern Illinois University are trying to educate people about the disease after three students there showed showed symptoms this week.

..."


More on this issue:


Search Is On for Source of Iowa Mumps Epidemic
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5340970

Mumps outbreak concerns U.S. health officials
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13326743.htm

[dave123williams]

1. Mumps - very dangerous - can actually cause permanent deafness...

[CountAllVotes]

3. I've never had the mumps

I remember my brother had them but I didn't catch them. This was when I was like ~8 or 9 years old I think (?).

Are the mumps highly contagious to adults with normal immune systems?

:dem: :kick:

[acmejack]

4. Yes, sneezes and coughs can transmit it.

It can really mess you up, too.


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mumps/DS00125/DSECTION=6

[Warpy]

6. My mother would take me to visit kids with childhood diseases

when I was little to get 'em over with.

When I was six, there was a mumps epidemic. The whole class got 'em, the teacher got 'em, the substitute teacher got 'em, then the substitute substitute teacher got 'em. Then they closed the school. I never got 'em. To this day, I've never had 'em.

It's a dangerous disease, especially in adult males. There are a lot of potential complications.

I've cared for folks with mumps. Get that MMR updated. You don't want 'em.

[CountAllVotes]

10. I've never had an "MMR" whatever that is

I'm not into vaccines personally. I don't get them (that goes for the flu too).

On edit: The only "vaccine" I ever had was for the required small pox one in school (there were no others required when I was growing up) - you were given a sugar cube to eat, I remember that much. Otherwise, I had all of these "childhood' illnesses except for the mumps. I may very well be immune to it being I've been exposed many times in my life (at home and at school). I'll rely on my strong immune system to work (and it works quite well). :)

[Warpy]

14. That sugar cube was for polio

You got the rest of the shots (dihtheria, pertussis, tetanus) or you wouldn't have been allowed into the school. MMRs came out in the 60s and the big scandal now is that they weren't very effective. Anyone who was vaccinated then needs to be revaccinated now. Those diseases are not benign, especially in adults.

I don't recommend flu vaccines in healthy young adults because the flu is one of the things that helps us maintain a strong immune system, along with the common cold. However, it's sheer lunacy to preach "no vaccines" to the elderly, immunocompromised, or chronically ill.

(MMR is for measels, mumps and rubella--German measels. The latter can cause severe birth defects if pregnant women get it. How will you feel if you pass it along to a pregnant woman and harm her baby? Your immune system may be a marvel, but you're not alone on the planet)

[dave123williams]

23. MMR is a good one - measles, mumps, rhubella.

[phantom power]

2. Are people just not getting vaccinated?

[CountAllVotes]

5. there was no vaccine when I was growing up

so you just got the mumps. I was exposed to them but never got them. This was over 40 years ago admittedly. :shrug:

[Arkansas Granny]

7. That's my question too. In my state immunization against

mumps (and a host of other communicable diseases) is required before a child can attend school or daycare.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

8. Mumps is a miserable disease

I well remember it. Your neck glands swell to huge proportions. It can make you deaf and/or sterile (if you are a man). No fun. We didn't have vaccinations for mumps, measles, chicken pox and German measles. We're so fortunate today.

I hope my immunity holds up for measles and mumps. It is not for chicken pox. I had them again at 40. Awful.

[CountAllVotes]

9. yep, I had the measles and the chicken pox

but never did I have the mumps. They had a vaccine for measles come out after I had them. So it was too late.

We all lived through it and I remember the chicken pox and measles being pretty harsh!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

11. I lost a classmate to measles

and my first cousin was born after his mom had German measles. He had severe defects and died at 17.

My uncle was made sterile by mumps. So they really were a scourge.

[Warpy]

15. Grannie, I had whooping cough in my early 40s

It wasn't as severe a disease as it would have been in an infant or toddler, but it was sheer hell for about 6 months.

It kills infants and toddlers. If they survive, it takes 2 years for them to recover. That's a lot of a young life to spend sick.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

17. Thank God for vaccinations

My grandparents lived next to a big Presbyterian graveyard. Actually, it was probably the graveyard for the whole community. I played there a lot as a child. There were so many little family plots with five and six kids in it all in the same year. My father told me it was diptheria epidemics.

We have been so protected in this generation.

[Warpy]

18. New England graveyards are very sobering

One man. Four or five women, in sequence, each woman surrounded by tiny headstones for stillbirths and the deaths of her children in epidemics of "usual childhood diseases."

People who haven't seen this stuff have no idea what a horror it was for parents before vaccinations were available.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

19. You can almost

(but not quite) see the sense in polygamy back then.

[Warpy]

20. This was serial polygamy

with one man outliving several successive wives. The women were killed off by overwork and constant childbearing.

Serial polygamy today involves divorce and the abandonment of wives and children in favor of younger models.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

21. I wonder if version 1 led to version 2.

[LibertyLover]

12. From what I've read

most of the people getting mumps in this epidemic have had their immunizations. That's what is concerning the state health officials. I think one of the theories they are looking at is if it's a slightly different type of mumps virus then the MMR (mumps measles rubella) is for. I'm from the generation that had no MMR, so we got mumps, measles, chicken pox and rubella. I had a nasty case of mumps when I was 4 - I still remember how rotten I felt - so theoretically I have a much greater chance of not getting mumps again. Of course, as my husband reminded me, no vaccination gives a 100% guarantee of immunity, just a better statistical chance. And because I had them so young, my immunity is weakened, giving my a better shot at getting mumps again - oh joy.

[CountAllVotes]

22. that explains it

another mutated version of the mumps is on the horizon. Present vaccine = useless I bet.

:kick:

[azurnoir]

13. Minnesota is a surprise

The law here states all children who attend day-care or school must be up to date on there immunizations or they will not be allowed to attend. This law is vigorously enforced I know from both sides medical and parent.

[Celebration]

16. vaccine

Most people who have had the mumps vaccine can't get it, but for about 10% of people it apparently doesn't cause complete immunity. I read that in a newspaper article but sorry I don't have a cite for it. Those are the people getting it......