Should We Be Worried About the Mumps? SELF's On-Call Medical Adviser Weighs In

by Anna Maltby

Lara Harwood
Lara Harwood

In case you missed it, there have been a few mini-epidemics of the mumps (a viral disease that causes fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue and swelling in the salivary glands) popping up this winter, mostly on college campuses -- at Fordham University in NYC this February, and most recently at the Ohio State University in Columbus, where the number of cases has reached 40 and the outbreak has reportedly begun to spread into the community.

So, uh, excuse our French, but WTF? We kind of thought mumps was one of those old-fashioned diseases we were, well, done with. In fact, last time we heard anything about mumps, pretty sure it was in that lady-with-the-alligator-purse song. We decided to get to the bottom of things and ask SELF's medical adviser, Harry Lodge, MD, for the 411.

This mumps stuff sounds scary. Is the disease dangerous?

Mumps is a pretty miserable infection, but most people get over it just fine--it cures itself with time. Brain inflammation and testicular inflammation, which are the really serious side effects, are what we worry about most. Inflammation of the testes can occur in 30 to 40 percent of men who get mumps after puberty. And while meningitis and encephalitis can occur and are always concerning, most people who get this with mumps recover just fine.

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Didn't most of us get vaccinated against mumps as kids? Does the vaccine not work?

Despite the introduction of near universal vaccination, only about 90 percent of people show immunity on blood testing. Some of this is related to inadequate levels of vaccines, but no vaccine is perfect, so most of it is simply that the shots don't take in everyone. In any case, 90 percent is a borderline number for what is called herd immunity. When enough people are immune to a disease, even if one person gets it, it has trouble spreading through the rest of the population, because it can't find enough hosts to keep the transmission cycle going.

OK, that's kind of a relief. So why do these outbreaks always seem to happen on college campuses?

Since the introduction of mandatory vaccination for school, the number of mumps cases has plummeted from 150,000 to under 2,000 cases per year, but sporadic outbreaks still occur -- often in military barracks, high schools, summer camps and colleges, i.e. where young people congregate, some of whom may not have been effectively vaccinated.

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So is there anything you should do to avoid getting mumps?

There's not much you can do to avoid getting mumps, apart from being sure you are vaccinated. People born after 1957 should be sure they have completed their full series of vaccines -- two doses of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine by the time you are 6 years old, and another two doses for young people who will be living together, such as college students and military recruits. For people not in high-risk settings, one dose after age 18 is thought to be plenty for the general healthy population. You can always check with your doctor to make sure you've had the shots you need.

Finally, we always love a good moment of Dr. Lodge #RealTalk: How worried should we really be? Put it in perspective for us!

At the end of the day, there are on average fewer than 2,000 cases across the country annually, and the large majority of those people recover without any long term problems. It pays to be prudent, and certainly if you are not fully vaccinated, go ahead and take care of that. But don't lose a lot of sleep worrying about mumps as some new major threat.

Phew!

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