The first licensed mumps vaccine was introduced in the US in 1967 and by 2005 there was a two-dose childhood vaccine that reduced disease rates by 99 percent. However, the vaccine is not available or accessible worldwide. State of Alaska health workers believe people in this country sometimes need a reminder of the importance of vaccines. This reminder came in the form of a 50 year old Alaskan who traveled to Japan earlier this summer.
The State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services released an Epidemiology bulletin on Tuesday explaining the new imported case of the mumps. According to the release, a 50-year-old woman took a group of school-aged children to Japan earlier this summer. The family that the woman stayed with included a young girl with a mumps diagnosis from June 21st.
After her return to Alaska, the woman reported inflammation in her left saliva gland, headache, jaw pain and lockjaw. Her care provider contacted the Alaska Section of Epidemiology and obtained samples for mumps testing.
Staff physician at the Section of Epidemiology for DHSS Rosalyn Singleton says mumps aren’t visible anymore because of the astounding results of the vaccine.
“You would have known about it about 30 years ago but now we’ve been so successful that there’s so few cases that it’s just not on people’s radar screen.”
Singleton says this case is a reminder of why vaccines are so important in the first place, especially for those traveling to foreign countries or in a college setting.
“There’s been over 900 reported cases in 2014. And those are mainly on college campuses and places where there’s real close contact, there’s been a few large outbreaks in those settings. In those settings you can have an outbreak that can cause several even a couple hundred cases. We know that mumps occurs often where there’s pockets of people that are unvaccinated, so if you have a community where there’s a high number of vaccine exemptions or people unvaccinated then you’re going to have a higher risk for mumps.”
The Section of Epidemiology says the primary symptom of mumps is swelling of the glands that produce saliva that lasts 12-25 days. However, there are several other nonspecific symptoms including fever, muscle pain and headache. Although inflammation of the brain can occur, it’s incredibly rare.
Singleton says although the mumps has the potential to be fatal, the likelihood is small. She says this singular case isn’t something to be overly concerned about, but it can’t be ignored.
“All of these vaccine preventable diseases that like you said we don’t think about anymore, are potential for folks in the United States.”
The Alaska woman is reported to be recovering well. There were no records available to document whether she had been vaccinated or not. However, all the children she accompanied to Japan were vaccinated and they show no evidence of the infection.