Nearly 50 Cases of Mumps Reported in Dallas Area in Past 2 Weeks

By THC Staff | December 19, 2016

 

The Dallas News states that cases of mumps have been recorded in Johnson, Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties. Now, North Texas has over 50 reported cases of the disease, making it the worst outbreak of the illness in many years.

As CBS DFW explains, symptoms of mumps start about 17 days after exposure to infected saliva. They include fever and swelling of the parotid gland (the salivary gland containing the lymph nodes), making for a swollen mouth and jaw. Yet, 20 percent of people will show no symptoms, perhaps making it easier to spread.

The impediments resulting from mumps are “orchitis, oophoritis, deafness, and meningoencephalitis.” Although there isn’t a treatment for this disease, there is a vaccine that’s 88 percent effective after receiving two doses. This still allows for outbreaks though.

Scientific American explains that researchers are trying to figure out why we have seen a spike in mumps in 2016 across the U.S. “We know generally that mumps cases wax and wane over years. This year in particular we know the spike was driven by three large outbreaks,” Janell Routh of the CDC says. A solution might be to receive a third dose of the vaccine, but the details are still being ironed out.