Mumps source investigated by officials

Department says number of Springdale cases up to 57

SPRINGDALE — The city’s number of mumps cases continued to grow Friday, and the Arkansas Department of Health said it didn’t believe the outbreak started in public schools.

The department reported 57 mumps cases Friday afternoon, nine of which had been confirmed by laboratory tests. That number was up from 39 Thursday. Testing to confirm the other cases continues, but the department treats them as confirmed as a precaution.

Rick Schaeffer, Springdale School District spokesman, said 27 students and two staff members were among the cases, up 11 from the day before. They work or attend 14 schools: Springdale High School, Lakeside and Southwest junior high schools, Sonora and Tyson middle schools, the Archer Learning Center and Jones, Lee, Parson Hills, Smith, Turnbow, Tyson, Walker and Westwood elementary schools.

Anyone with suspected or confirmed mumps symptoms is being isolated to prevent its spread, said Dr. Gary Wheeler, chief medical officer for the Health Department. The 20 students who go to the affected schools and are exempt from

the mumps vaccination for medical, religious or other reasons must stay home until receiving the vaccine or until 26 days have passed since the last case was diagnosed.

Though most of the cases were diagnosed by school nurses, Wheeler said Friday the outbreak appears to have started in the broader community first.

“It doesn’t look like the transmission is occurring at school; we’re keeping our fingers crossed on that,” he said.

People infected with the virus can go up to 25 days without showing symptoms, and department officials expect the number of cases to keep increasing, spokeswoman Meg Mirivel said.

Mumps can cause fever, headaches and swollen salivary glands around the face. The symptoms are often mild, but can lead to more serious complications, particularly among adults, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s spread by coughing or sneezing or other contact with infected saliva or mucus.

The vaccine introduces the virus to the body in a low enough dose for the immune system to fight it off and be prepared for full- strength exposure in the future. After two doses, it can prevent the disease from causing an illness in 88 percent of the people who’ve been vaccinated, according to the centers. Some of the affected people in Springdale were vaccinated, the Health Department said.

The department is finding people who have had contact with the known cases to check if they’ve been vaccinated, Wheeler added.

“If we know where the first case is, it makes it a whole lot easier to track the infection,” he said, adding outbreaks often begin after someone brings in the virus from outside of the area. “We’re kind of following on all those leads right now, where do these people work, where do they go to church, that sort of thing.”

The department’s also putting together plans for community vaccination clinics next week to give people more options for getting the mumps vaccine besides at local health units, Wheeler said. The department has offices in Fayetteville, Siloam Springs and Rogers, along with a women, infants and children clinic at 1772 W. Sunset Ave. in Springdale.