Agency declares end of UA’s mumps outbreak

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville said Sunday evening that it has notified employees and students excluded from campus-related activities because of a mumps outbreak that they can return starting today.

The Arkansas Department of Health declared the mumps outbreak officially over, said Meg Mirivel, an agency spokesman, in an email Sunday evening.

Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the Health Department’s medical director for immunizations and outbreak response, said this means the agency’s “mandate for two doses of the [measles, mumps and rubella] vaccine or documented immunity for staff and faculty is no longer in effect.”

A Health Department directive announced by UA on Dec. 16 said employees were required to prove immunity to mumps or show documentation that they had received the vaccine. UA has about 5,200 employees.

Faculty and staff members who didn’t meet the Health Department directive have been excluded from campus since the start of the spring semester. Zac Brown, a spokesman for UA’s Pat Walker Health Center, said in mid-January that 83 workers were being excluded from campus.

Brown said Jan. 30 that 47 students were excluded from attending class on campus because of a separate directive from the Health Department. The university has about 27,500 students.

On Jan. 30, Dillaha said there had not been any new mumps cases associated with the UA campus since the spring semester began Jan. 13.

Mumps is a viral illness that can result in serious complications, although most people recover completely.

The mumps incubation period — the time it takes for symptoms to appear after exposure — is 26 days. An outbreak can be declared over when two incubation periods have passed with no new cases, according to the Health Department.

Officials had previously said the earliest the outbreak could be considered officially over was today.