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**Shiloh** · October 22, 2009, 10:06 PM

Re: NYC: DOH Confirms Mumps Outbreak In Brooklyn

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._comback_.html

Old-fashioned mumps make comeback in Borough Park; 57 confirmed cases

BY Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, October 22nd 2009, 6:21 PM

City health officials warned Thursday of an outbreak of the old-fashioned childhood disease mumps in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.

The outbreak was traced to a child who went to Britain - where the illness is more common because of lower levels of vaccination - and then attended a summer camp upstate, apparently infecting dozens of kids.

City health officials say there are 57 confirmed or probable cases and they are investigating more. Those infected are mostly between 10 and 15 years old.

Puzzlingly, 75% of the victims had the normal two doses of mumps vaccine, which is supposed to protect against the illness 90% of the time.

"We know that approximately one in every 20 people who are vaccinated may not develop antibodies," said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of immunization. "If the vaccine was not effective we would have many, many more cases. "

The infection caused by the mumps virus was a common scourge of childhood - and a leading cause of deafness - until vaccination largely ended it in the developed world.

Typically, it causes a painful swelling of the salivary glands. In rarer cases, patients can be rendered deaf.

It spreads through coughs and sneezes, and a person becomes ill about two weeks after exposure.

There is no treatment. The illness usually lasts about 10 days.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz0UjDOPZVF

**Shiloh** · October 28, 2009, 07:26 AM

Re: NYC: DOH Confirms Mumps Outbreak In Brooklyn

Source: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...270311/-1/NEWS

Excerpt:

Mumps outbreak tied to Sullivan

The New York City Department of Health is investigating a mumps outbreak in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, that began among children who attended summer camp in Sullivan County.

Officials say 57 confirmed or probable cases of the virus have been reported since Aug. 21.

Health officials are investigating other cases in Lakewood, N.J. Both locations have large Orthodox Jewish communities.

Sullivan County Director of Public Health Carol Ryan confirmed that a summer camp in Sullivan did report cases of mumps.

Most of the ill have been children ages 10 to 15, but the victims have ranged in age from 1 to 42.

Mumps can be spread through sneezes, coughs and exchanges of saliva.

Symptoms include high fever, headache, earache, fatigue, difficulty swallowing and swelling of the salivary glands.

Barry Lewis

**Shiloh** · November 7, 2009, 04:20 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=113822

NY State Health Department Reports New Mumps Cases

Friday, Nov 6, 2009 @08:54am CST

(New City, NY) -- An outbreak of the mumps now appears to have spread to dozens of children in Rockland County, New York.

The state Health Department reports at least 45 children in religious communities in Monsey and Spring Valley have come down with the mumps.

Health officials say the spread of the disease appears linked to similar cases in Brooklyn and Lakewood, New Jersey.

The Health Department believes the disease originated from a child, who recently returned from London before attending a summer camp in Sullivan County.

The state adds seven other cases of the mumps have been reported in Orange County.

Health officials say the disease shows no signs of spreading beyond the religious communities.

**Shiloh** · November 15, 2009, 02:21 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://ny1.com/7-brooklyn-news-conte...-hits-the-city

Updated 11/13/2009 05:18 PM
Mumps Outbreak Hits The City

By: NY1 News

The largest outbreak of mumps in the United States in three years is hitting our area.

Health officials say about 180 cases were found in New York and New Jersey from August through the end of last month.

The Centers for Disease Control says the outbreak was first reported at a boys? camp in Sullivan County, and may have been triggered by an 11-year-old boy from England. The disease then spread to Borough Park once the school year began.

Three people have been hospitalized in the city, but no deaths have been reported.

About 4,000 people have contracted the disease in the United Kingdom.

Symptoms of mumps include fever, headache and swollen salivary glands. The disease spreads by coughing and sneezing, and can lead to other health issues like deafness and meningitis.

**Shiloh** · December 2, 2009, 11:12 AM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArt.../New_York.html

Not Immune From Mumps

by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer
Stemming from an initial mumps outbreak that wreaked havoc at a Jewish camp this summer, 247 New York City residents plus 131 other state residents have since contracted the disease, which remains mostly contained among fervently Orthodox adolescent boys in pockets of New York, New Jersey and Quebec, according to official reports from the New York City and State Departments of Health.
The trigger case occurred back in June, when an 11-year-old boy returned to his Sullivan County summer camp after traveling in the United Kingdom, where an ongoing outbreak has now reached about 4,000 cases, the Centers for Disease Control reported.

From there, the mumps spread to 24 other boys at the camp and continued to plague their local communities when they returnedhome, and the median age of patients remains around 14.
But perhaps the most frustrating news to some parents is that most of the affected patients had received their proper two-dose vaccination as children ? 83 percent, according to the CDC.

?This is a very confusing issue not only for ourselves but for providers and parents,? said Cindy Schulte, vaccine-preventable disease surveillance officer at the New York State Department of Health. ?If you have a population that?s fairly well but unevenly vaccinated, by logic, you?re going to end up having some disease in the effective population.? The Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine has an 85 to 91 percent efficacy rate among those who take the proper doses, she said.

The most common symptoms of this viral disease are fever, muscle aches and parotitis, the signature inflammation of the salivary glands below the ear. Though no deaths have occurred thus far and symptoms may often be subtle, there have been several hospitalizations and one potential case of meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain), according to Dr. Debra Blog, medical director at the Bureau of Immunization Program in the New York State Department of Health.

Mumps can be particularly dangerous to pubescent boys, doctors say, because a small number will develop orchitis, a swelling of the testicles that can potentially (though rarely) lead to infertility. The same goes for girls, who can develop swelling of the ovaries that can lead to sterility. While mumps cases among women have certainly increased since the summer, New York City infections remain around 79 percent male, Blog explained.

?These communities tend to have social contact with themselves and tend to be a bit isolated from the outside community,? she said. ?In New York City especially it?s going through their schools.?

As of Oct. 30, the CDC had only reported a total of 179 cases in New York and New Jersey and another 15 in Canada, but New York City health officials say that the numbers have increased so dramatically in the past month simply because doctors are taking more care to report their ill patients to the government.

?We?re still getting cases reported virtually every day,? said Dr. Chris Zimmerman, medical director at the Bureau of Immunization in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. ?There was a substantial increase just from the week before the alert to when the alert came out.?

It is difficult to maintain an exact number of cases, Schulte added, because disease spread is a ?fluid number.?

A mumps outbreak of this size has not occurred since 2006, when the United States experienced over 6,500 cases that were particularly hard-hitting among college dormitory residents in Iowa. But the current wave largely remains within pocketed chasidic communities, all linked back to that one summer camp flare-up.
?There have been less than a handful of cases outside the community,? Zimmerman said.
?The population is segregated ? these kids are not going to public schools, they?re going to yeshivas,? he continued. ?They only have the opportunity to interact with other boys in their community.?

And while statistics show that an overwhelming majority of the kids in these neighborhoods are in fact properly vaccinated, the few outliers are probably the ones perpetuating the disease spread, he added.
?Overall, immunization coverage is good, but this is a community that has had resistance to MMR vaccines ? their parents have claimed religious exemptions,? Zimmerman said.

Yet despite outbreaks that have resurfaced from time to time, state medical officials still maintain the mumps vaccine is a successful product, particularly in what Blog calls ?evenly vaccinated communities? ? those who pretty much unanimously undergo the immunization.

Regarding the disease spread, another crucial element worth considering among the allegedly vaccinated patients is whether or not their dosages were properly refrigerated speculated Dr. Michael Augenbraun, a professor of epidemiology at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

?Breaks in the ?cold chain? are a serious problem for vaccine efficacy if, for example, an office allowed for a vaccine to sit out on countertops overnight,? Augenbraun said, noting that we have no way of knowing this after so many years, however.

Thus far, despite the one hospitalization and some cases of orchitis, complications from this outbreak have generally been minimal. Approximately 56 percent of the confirmed cases exhibited the parotitis, according to Schulte.

?We?re not seeing the same rate of complications that we saw in the pre-vaccine era,? Zimmerman said, noting that before the vaccine, another dangerous side effect of the mumps was permanent deafness.
But the subtle nature of so many of these current cases may be yet another reason that the disease is spreading, because parents neglect to see a doctor about their children?s illnesses.

So what can parents do to protect their families from catching the mumps?

They should make sure that their children have received the two dosages of the vaccine on time, ideally before their first birthday, Schulte said. If an older child has not yet received the vaccine but hasn?t yet been exposed to the illness, this child too should be immunized.

And if a child or adult becomes sick, the best thing to do, as always, is to stay home from school or work, wash hands frequently and see a doctor.

Blog added, ?Isolation and vaccination are the two most effective things along with common sense.?

**Shiloh** · December 18, 2009, 09:05 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/health/09...reak-continues

Brooklyn Mumps Outbreak Continues

Updated: Friday, 18 Dec 2009, 5:53 PM EST
Published : Friday, 18 Dec 2009, 4:40 PM EST

MYFOXNY.COM - A mumps outbreak in Brooklyn that has lasted for months has prompted health officials to issue a multistate mumps outbreak alert, warning health care providers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to be aware of the problem.

New York City is dealing with nearly 600 confirmed and suspected cases. Most of the patients have one thing in common: Religion. The cases started turning up in late August.

Mumps is an illness characterized by acute swelling of the salivary gland lasting two or more days. The illness can cause deafness and encephalitis. A person can be infected for two days before symptoms appear. The health department is telling people who suspect they have mumps to stay home for five days. Children who are not fully vaccinated against mumps are the highest risk of infection.

All suspected of cases of mumps should be reported to the Bureau of Immunization at 212-676-2288.

* MORE INFORMATION ON MUMPS FROM THE CDC
* WHO SHOULD NOT BE VACCINATED FOR MUMPS

ALERT # 47: Update on Multi-State Mumps Outbreak

1. The mumps outbreak in New York City (NYC) continues.
2. Report all SUSPECT cases of mumps (clinical parotitis) to the Bureau of Immunization (BOI) at 212- 676-2288 or -2284 (or 212-764-7667 after hours).
3. Ensure that ALL children and adults are age-appropriately vaccinated. Adults with unknown vaccination status, particularly in the affected communities, should receive one or two doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, as indicated, to ensure they are fully vaccinated.
4. Keep mumps suspect cases home for 5 days following the onset of parotitis.
5. In healthcare settings, place mumps suspect cases on standard and respiratory droplet precautions immediately by placing a face mask on the person.
6. Obtain clinical specimens (serum and buccal swabs) for diagnostic testing on suspect cases of mumps and refrigerate while waiting for pick-up by the NYC DOHMH

**Shiloh** · December 18, 2009, 09:08 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.lohud.com/article/2009121...in-Monsey-area

More mumps cases reported in Monsey area

By Jane Lerner ? jlerner@lohud.com ? December 18, 2009

MONSEY ? The number of people in Rockland who have come down with mumps has jumped to 152 as part of what state and federal health officials are calling the largest outbreak of the disease nationwide in years.

Just about all local cases of the highly infectious disease are among Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic residents of Monsey and New Square, according to the Rockland Department of Health.

"The outbreak is ongoing within the Orthodox community," said Rockland Commissioner of Health Dr. Joan Facelle.

So far, there is no indication that people outside those communities are coming down with mumps, she said.

The outbreak started in August in a Sullivan County, N.Y., summer camp for Orthodox boys, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials traced the outbreak to an 11-year-old camper, who had recently returned from England, where at least 4,000 people have come down with the disease.

That camper spread the illness to 25 other people at the camp ranging in age from 9 to 30, with a median age of 12, according to the CDC.

When the campers went home later in the summer, they apparently brought the disease with them to Jewish communities in Rockland and Orange counties, the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, Lakewood, N.J., and Quebec, according to health officials.

"The outbreak has spread and gradually increased in size and is now the largest U.S. mumps outbreak since 2006," the CDC said in a bulletin.

It's also the largest outbreak in New York since 2005, according to Tom Allocco, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.

More than 300 cases have been reported statewide outside of New York City, with half in Rockland and half in Orange County, primarily Kiryas Joel, according to health officials.

As of late October, there were 79 confirmed cases in Brooklyn, 40 cases in Lakewood, N.J., and 15 cases in Quebec, primarily in Montreal, according to the CDC.

Read more about this story in The Journal News and on www.Lohud.com.

**Shiloh** · December 20, 2009, 12:12 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135102

Mumps Strikes New York Area Jewish Communities
by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) The old childhood illness of mumps has returned to strike the Jewish communities of Greater Metropolitan New York, Rockland and Orange Counties, Lakewood, New Jersey and Quebec, Canada.

The outbreak, although one of the largest to have hit the U.S. since 2006, is still relatively small, with 57 confirmed cases in the Boro Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, and another 30 cases in Lakewood, New Jersey. At the end of October, the most recent date for which data was available, a total of 179 confirmed or probable cases had been reported from around the New York and New Jersey area, 83 percent of which were male. Another 15 cases were identified in Canada, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Mumps is a highly contagious virus which is characterized in children by painful swelling (parotid inflammation) of the salivary glands in the neck, sometimes on one side, sometimes on both. The illness usually lasts about 10 days, and is accompanied by a headache and/or fever. Other symptoms include a sore face or ears, occasionally a rash, and sometimes a dry mouth. Deafness and meningo-encephalitis are among the rare complications that can result.

Outbreak Limited to Orthodox, Chassidic Jews ? This Time

The outbreak so far appears to be limited to the Orthodox and Chassidic Jewish communities in Monsey, New Square, Kiryas Yoel, the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Boro Park and Williamsburg in New York, Lakewood, New Jersey, and Quebec, Canada.

According to the CDC, the outbreak was traced to an 11-year-old boy who had returned from a visit to the United Kingdom, where 4,000 ?unvaccinated young adults? were sick with the virus. The boy went to summer camp in New York in August, passing the virus to 25 others, who in turn then returned home to their communities and passed it along to others. Most of the campers who caught the virus had been vaccinated, however.

Health Departments are stressing the importance of immunizing the children against all childhood illnesses, including mumps, measles and rubella ? the MMR vaccine. According to the report, a number of parents interviewed by health officials had chosen not to immunize their children ? but not all. There have also been a number of cases in which the victims had been fully immunized.

The Jewish communities are not the first ones to have been hit with such an epidemic, however.

The last time an outbreak of mumps struck the United States was in 2006. According to a study at Texas Children?s Hospital published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a total of 2,597 cases of mumps were reported that year in 11 states within the 12-month period. The outbreak occurred primarily among university students ages 18 to 25. According to the report, many had received two doses of the MMR vaccine in childhood.

Main Issues: Contagion, and Infertility

Up to 20 percent of those affected can be asymptomatic ? that is, they show no symptoms at all and thus may be contagious and spread the illness without being aware of it.

The other issue, one that is equally serious, is that in males past the age of puberty, there is a 30 percent chance of the virus also causing painful testicular swelling. This can result in infertility or subfertility.

It is passed through coughing and sneezing, sharing food or drinks, and kissing. The virus can also survive on various surfaces and then be spread after contact. Contagion lasts from approximately six to nine days after onset of symptoms, with an incubation period of anywhere between 14 to 25 days.

There is no specific treatment for the virus once it begins, other than giving painkillers such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Most of the time, the disease runs its course and confers lifetime immunity thereafter; it is not considered particularly dangerous except in very rare cases.

Not Immunized? Not Protected Against the Virus

The most common way to prevent mumps is to immunize against the disease with the mumps vaccine, which may be available in some areas separately but is most often combined with two other vaccines, those against measles and rubella, in the ?MMR.? There is also another vaccine being used, the ?MMRV,? that combines four immunizations; this includes the aforementioned three plus one against chickenpox (varicella) another childhood illness.

Herein lies the difficulty, however, and possibly the reason for the current outbreak: the MMR and the MMRV have in the past been associated with claims that they may have caused an increase in the number of cases of autism.

Since 1994, when the vaccine was deemed mandatory for all school-age children in the United States, an increase in the number of cases of autism has been documented, giving rise to speculation that there was a correlation between the two.

Researchers have denied any connection between the two issues, but parents and even some doctors remain unconvinced. The 1998 study in which a possible association between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease and autism was suggested has long since been discredited as ?fatally flawed,? but the concern persisted, leading parents to avoid immunizing their children with the MMR vaccine.

**Shiloh** · February 6, 2010, 04:37 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.lohud.com/article/20102060356

More than 300 cases of mumps reported in Monsey, New Square
By Jane Lerner ? jlerner@lohud.com ? February 6, 2010

MONSEY ? More than 300 people in Rockland have been diagnosed with the mumps even as a cluster, which started last summer at an upstate camp for Jewish boys and turned into the largest outbreak nationwide in years, continues, health officials said.

A total of 303 cases have been diagnosed in Rockland, Commissioner of Health Joan Facelle said.

Just about all local cases of the highly infectious disease are among Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic residents of Monsey and New Square, she said.

"We are hoping that we are past the peak," Facelle said. "But it's too soon to tell."

The county Health Department is continuing to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state health officials to try to contain the outbreak.

The Rockland Department of Health is also reaching out to community leaders, including rabbis and yeshiva directors to stress the importance of immunization, Facelle said...

**Shiloh** · February 8, 2010, 11:49 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/08...eak.northeast/

More than 1,000 get mumps in New York, New Jersey since August
February 8, 2010 10:00 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Almost all the cases of mumps involve adolescent Orthodox Jews
* Outbreak traced to boy who went to United Kingdom during mumps outbreak
* Severe cases of mumps can lead to brain inflammation and deafness
* It's the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 2006

New York (CNN) -- More than 1,000 people in New Jersey and New York, many of them adolescent Orthodox Jews, have been sickened with mumps since August, health authorities said Monday.

Orange County, New York, has confirmed 494 cases since early November, county spokesman Richard Mayfield told CNN. Almost all of those infected with the virus are of the Orthodox or Hasidic Jewish population, and their average age is 14, he said.

Neighboring Rockland County has confirmed 317 cases since August, with all of the sick from the Orthodox Jewish community, said Kathleen Henry, county Deputy Commissioner of Health. Their average is 14 to 18, she said.

Just north of the two counties, in New York City, Brooklyn had 79 confirmed cases of mumps as of October 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in November. Any confirmation of other infections in the city are expected to be announced Tuesday.

The mumps outbreak began at a summer camp for Orthodox Jewish boys in Sullivan County, New York, according to the CDC. Health officials have linked the outbreak to an 11-year-old boy at the camp. He had recently returned from the United Kingdom, where a mumps outbreak had spread to 4,000 people.

The mumps outbreak also spread to Ocean County, New Jersey, where 159 confirmed cases have been diagnosed since September, county spokeswoman Leslie Terjesen told CNN. An additional 70 others are suspected of having mumps, she said.

Only seven of the infected are not Orthodox Jewish, but they all had exposure to the community, Terjesen said. The average age of the sick is 21, she said.

Lakewood, New Jersey, Rabbi Yehunda Pirutinsky was surprised when his 14-year-old son was diagnosed with mumps a week ago. Lakewood is in Ocean County.

"He was completely vaccinated," Pirutinsky said. "So it was a surprise to us he came down with mumps."

Anyone fully vaccinated from mumps receives two doses of the vaccine, according to the CDC. Of the New Jersey cases, 77 percent were vaccinated, Terjesen said.

But the vaccine is not 100 percent effective, according to the CDC. At two doses, the vaccine is 76 to 95 percent effective, the CDC says on its Web site.

In November, the CDC called the spike in mumps cases, "the largest U.S. mumps outbreak since 2006, when the United States experienced a resurgence of mumps with 6,584 reported cases." Then, only 179 people were sickened in New York and New Jersey.

Mumps is a contagious disease caused by a virus, according to the CDC. Initial symptoms appear 12 to 25 days after infection and include fever, headache, muscle aches and loss of appetite. Mumps can cause the jaw and cheeks to swell, with further complications including the inflammation of the brain, testicles or ovaries, and deafness, according to the CDC.

Pirutinsky's son has fully recovered from his bout with mumps, which Pirutinsky assumes he contracted while at his Jewish high school. A doctor advised the teenager to not attend school for a week and limit time with his siblings, Pirutinsky said.

The outbreak has disproportionately affected Orthodox Jewish communities, but Pirutinsky said he wasn't overly worried.

"I wouldn't say the community is alarmed, but it's something we're aware of," he said.

**Shiloh** · February 11, 2010, 01:59 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-update1-.html

New York Jewish Mumps Outbreak Sickens 1,521 Children (Update1)
February 11, 2010, 01:41 PM EST
(Adds outbreak?s origin in fifth paragraph.)

By Tom Randall

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- An outbreak of mumps in Jewish schools in New York and New Jersey sickened 1,521 students since June and isn?t subsiding, U.S. health officials said.

There were 19 hospitalizations and no deaths in the biggest outbreak since 2006, when 6,500 college students were infected, according to a report today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The children getting mumps have high vaccination rates, and the disease?s spread may be due to the large family size in Orthodox Jewish communities and prolonged exposure to fellow pupils in boys-only schools, the CDC said.

Illness from the mumps virus, which causes fever and inflamed salivary glands under the jaw and in the cheeks, has declined to fewer than 500 cases a year on average since the vaccine was released in 1967, when 186,000 people were sickened. The two-dose vaccine, which doesn?t prevent all cases, has helped contain the New York-based outbreak, the CDC said.

?We?re getting reports from all of the infected communities that people are still being diagnosed with mumps,? said Kathleen Gallagher, an epidemiologist at the Atlanta-based CDC and an author of the report. ?Cases haven?t really spread outside the communities. That highlights that, for the most part, the vaccine policy is very effective.?

U.K. Origin

The outbreak began when an 11-year-old boy returned from a trip to the U.K. on June 17 after being infected in a surge of cases there that affected more than 7,400 people last year.

The boy then attended a New York summer camp for Jewish boys and passed the virus to other attendees and a staff member before developing symptoms on June 28. The sick children brought the virus back to their communities in New York and New Jersey. The New York borough of Brooklyn was hardest hit.

Sixty-five cases with complications were reported, led by 55 cases of orchitis, or painfully swollen testicles. The symptom made mumps one of the most debilitating illnesses among U.S. troops in World War I and World War II before the vaccine was developed, Gallagher said.

Most cases of mumps are mild and give students a temporary ?chipmunk appearance,? Gallagher said. Rare cases can lead to temporary or permanent deafness and potentially fatal brain- swelling encephalitis. One case of temporary deafness was reported in the U.S. outbreak.

U-Shaped Tables

The Orthodox boys? schools are especially suited for mumps transmission because students sit at U-shaped tables and face a study partner instead of the more common practice of students facing in the same direction, Gallagher said.

?There?s more contact that way than there would be in a public school classroom where you?d essentially be coughing into the back of someone?s neck,? Gallagher said.

The infected children were primarily ages 7 to 18, with a median age of 15, according to the report. Seventy-six percent were male.

The average family size in the affected communities is 5.7 people, more than double the 2.6 people in the typical U.S. household, the CDC said, citing 2000 Census data. Large families tend to have more continuous exposure to each other, making the spread of virus more likely, she said.

About 88 percent of students with mumps had received at least one dose of vaccine, and 75 percent had received two doses, according to today?s study. The vaccine is 75 percent to 95 percent effective after two doses, according to studies cited in the report.

Combination vaccines that protect children against measles, mumps and rubella are made by Merck & Co. of Whitehouse, Station, New Jersey, London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Paris- based Sanofi-Aventis SA. Merck and Glaxo make combination vaccines that additionally protect against chicken pox.

The mumps component of the so-called MMR combination vaccine is less effective than the measles and rubella components, today?s report said.

--Editors: Bruce Rule, Andrew Pollack

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at +1-212-617-1023 or trandall6@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at +1-212-617-2563 or rgale5@bloomberg.net.

**Shiloh** · February 17, 2010, 08:10 AM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArt...ws/Briefs.html

Mumps Spreads To New Communities
by Sharon Udasin

A mumps outbreak in the Orthodox community, which began last summer, has spread beyond Williamsburg and Borough Park to include scattered incidents in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Far Rockaway, Queens, city Health Department officials say.

Far Rockaway pediatrician Dr. Hylton Lightman told The Jewish Week that he has seen about 20 mumps patients, most of them men between 17 and 23, as well as four or five girls and two mothers.

Among his patients is a staff member at the Bnot Shulamith Elementary School in Woodmere, L.I.

Of particular concern to some doctors is that the age range of patients ? who remain 80 percent male ? now includes an older population of young adults, many of whom misplaced their immunization records after graduating high school, according to Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In the affected communities, 70 percent of children under 18 have received their two immunization dosages, but for young adults statistics remain unclear.

?People who are not vaccinated have a higher rate of complications,? Zucker said. ?We want people who don?t know their status to go and get vaccinated.? This week, the Department of Health will host free vaccination clinics in Borough Park and Williamsburg with Jewish organizations.

The total of New York City cases has risen to 909 as of Feb. 8. Outside the city, the state now accounts for a total of 928 cases, with 317 occurring in Rockland County and 611 in Orange County as of Feb. 10, according to State Department of Health Spokesman Tom Allocco.

The most common symptoms of the mumps are fever, muscle aches and parotitis, the signature inflammation of the salivary glands below the ear. Rarer side effects can include meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and pancreatitis, which can cause abdominal pain and vomiting.

**Shiloh** · March 15, 2010, 12:03 PM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Source: http://www.wptz.com/news/22843265/detail.html

Mumps Outbreak Declared At SUNY Plattsburgh
News Conference Scheduled For 2 P.M.

POSTED: 11:51 am EDT March 15, 2010
UPDATED: 12:15 pm EDT March 15, 2010

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- SUNY Plattsburgh officials said Monday there is a mumps outbreak on campus, where three people have tested positive for the disease.

In a press release issued Monday, college officials said there have been three confirmed cases of mumps on campus and that the school is officially declaring an outbreak. A news conference on the announcement is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday...

...In response to the outbreak, the Clinton County Department of Health, under advisement from the New York State Department of Health, issued a directive requiring the college to exclude from its campus any students who were born after Jan. 1, 1957, and who have no documented evidence of a single dose of either mumps vaccine or MMR, or have no documented evidence of past infection with the mumps virus or do not have a current mumps titer demonstrating immunity to the mumps virus.

Under the health department directives, these students are banned from the main SUNY Plattsburgh campus, including dorms, facilities, classrooms and extra-curricular activities, effective immediately, and will be individually notified of this exclusion, as well as what steps they must take to be allowed back on campus.

**Pathfinder** · March 17, 2010, 11:15 AM

Re: NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

Updated 03/16/2010 04:13 PM

Mumps outbreak at SUNY Plattsburgh

By: Web Staff

CLINTON COUNTY, N.Y. -- SUNY Plattsburgh has an outbreak of mumps on campus. There are three confirmed cases and school officials are awaiting the results of three other suspected cases. Those infected are currently off campus grounds.

Most SUNY Plattsburgh students are on spring break this week. When they return, they must make a mandatory first stop at the student center, where they will be required to show vaccination records or other proof of immunization.

School officials are awaiting more guidelines from the state Health Department.

http://watertown.ynn.com/content/top...ny-plattsburgh

Source: http://www.pressrepublican.com/break...078130214.html

Published March 19, 2010 01:02 pm - Eleven students can't return to campus right now due to lack of mumps vaccination.

Plattsburgh State excluding students due to mumps

By STEPHEN BARTLETT
Staff Writer

PLATTSBURGH — A total of 11 Plattsburgh State students are now excluded from campus during a mumps outbreak because they received no vaccination due to religious exemptions.

The college has had three confirmed cases of the mumps.

STATE RESTRICTION

New York State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines issued an order Friday barring students who are not vaccinated against mumps and have not contracted mumps from campus for the duration of the outbreak.

The students could be out up to 26 days after the final confirmed case of mumps, though once they have received a first dose of mumps vaccine, they can return to campus.

“This is for their safety and the safety of those around them,” said Claudia S. Hutton, director of public affairs for the New York State Health Department.

POSSIBLE 5 CASES

Three cases of the mumps have been confirmed since the outbreak began Feb. 23, while two more are under investigation.

The outbreak was scattered across campus, and the source has not been identified.

According to the Health Department, an ongoing outbreak of mumps in a religious community in Rockland and Orange counties and Brooklyn originated in England...

Announcement

NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

NYC/NYS: Mumps outbreaks

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