Mumps Cases Spread to New Jersey College Despite Students Having Vaccines

The two previously documented mumps outbreaks were at Fordham University in the Bronx and Ohio State University (which has spread into nearby Ohio counties). The latest comes from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

The eight students who have been infected with mumps are being kept away from others as they're being treated for the virus. They are all between the ages of 18 and 21 and live in the same fraternity house. The school has taken action to prevent further spread of the disease.

"All students with suspected mumps infection were isolated from others during the infectious phase of the illness and returned to their homes off campus," the Stevens Institute of Technology statement read.

The precautions taken by the university are appropriate, especially since the Ohio State University mumps outbreak has sickened over 200 people at the school and surrounding areas since it began in March. Mumps is a highly contagious virus characterized by a fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swelling of salivary glands. The illness is much less common since the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

But in February, Fordham University witnessed an outbreak of 13 mumps cases that spread throughout multiple campuses. School officials reported that the students were sent home to be away from others and recover from the disease. The New York City Health Department began to crack down after there were multiple cases of the measles in northern Manhattan and the Bronx as well.

And now Central Ohio is experiencing one of the bigger outbreaks in recent memory. Thus far, a total of 234 cases were documented at Ohio State University as well as a few surrounding counties. And many of those who were infected had the proper doses of vaccinations.

"Columbus officials are calling it the city's biggest outbreak since the development of the mumps vaccine in the 1940s," said WOSU reporter Steve Brown in this NPR article. "It even pushed them to open a new clinic."

Stevens Institute of Technology is likely to have learned from these prior events, and their small mumps outbreak should be contained and eliminated soon. You can read more about it in this NBC New York article.