SoCal College Students Warned Of Possible Mumps Outbreak
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — College students around the Southland are being warned Friday about the mumps after a potential outbreak at a University of California campus.
KNX 1070's John Brooks reports the warning comes after nearly 20 cases of the disease — which causes a painful swelling of the salivary glands — were reported at UC Berkeley.
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Up to 1,000 UC Berkeley students stood in line yesterday to get vaccinations for the disease which, while rarely fatal, can include symptoms such as fever, loss of appetite and fatigue.
Health alert have been sent to local schools such as UCLA and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but no mass vaccinations are planned at this point.
Dr. David Baron, former chief of staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center says the mumps can spread with a sneeze.
"Anytime you've got an infectious disease that spreads the way a cold spreads, and you put that in the context of a institutional setting where there are large groups of people in a concentrated area, you tend to get outbreaks," said Baron.
Students are being told to check their health records to insure they have received two doses of the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.
