Probable Mumps Outbreak in Monmouth County

The county health department is investigating seven probable cases of mumps, officials said.

County public health coordinator Michael Meddis, of the Monmouth County Health Department, said in a release the department is trying to find the cause of the infection to determine a course of action. No source has yet been found.

“Mumps-like symptoms have been reported at local medical offices and those individuals are being tested for mumps,” Meddis said in the release.

People who were vaccinated with the MMR -- measles, mumps and rubella -- vaccine, as an infant and again between the ages of 4 and 6, are 90 percent less likely to contract mumps, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Symptoms of the infection include swelling of salivary glands, fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite. Mumps is spread through saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose, or throat of an infected person, according to the release.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine given at infancy and again between 4 and 6 years old renders a person 90 percent less likely to contract mumps, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Most mumps transmission likely occurs before the salivary glands begin to swell and within the 5 days after the swelling begins. Therefore, CDC recommends isolating mumps patients for 5 days after their glands begin to swell, the release says.

Anyone with such symptoms should contact their health care professional immediately.  

More information about mumps is available from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/mumps/index.html.