Outbreaks in Boise and Washington reportedly linked to Moscow campus
Anna Olson, staff epidemiologist at the Idaho Public Health office in Lewiston, said there are six confirmed mumps cases in Boise and two in Washington, and based on information the public health district has received the cases are linked to the fall outbreak at the University of Idaho.
“From what we’ve been able to learn, the Boise and Washington cases were either directly linked with the University of Idaho campus, or were close contacts of a person directly linked with the University of Idaho campus,” Olson said.
Although some media outlets have reported the outbreak at UI is ongoing, Greg Tatham, assistant vice provost for student affairs, said mumps is no longer a problem at the university.
“I don’t think there is blame to be put on anyone,” Tatham said.
Tatham said the last UI mumps case reported to him was Dec. 19. He said it is possible that UI students may have spread the disease, but he can’t confirm reports that UI students are continuing to spread it.
He said the outbreak lasted from September to December. In that time, 14 cases confirmed through bloodwork were reported to Tatham by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. There were probably more mild cases that were not reported, he said.
Mumps is not a common disease in the area, and the outbreak at UI was the first time the district has seen an outbreak in years, Olson said.
Tatham said the outbreak might have spread if people did not listen to their doctors. To his knowledge, doctors advised anyone with mumps to stay home, Tatham said. Some people probably didn’t listen to them and ended up spreading it to others, he said.
“If you do go to your health care provider, listen to your health care provider,” he said.
Mumps is a highly contagious virus and Tatham said it is important to get immunized. The MMR vaccine is effective against measles, mumps and rubella. He said some people who got the mumps were vaccinated and there have been reports that the vaccine may not be effective for all strains of the virus. A number of people who contracted the disease were not vaccinated, he said.
He said even though there have been no reports of the mumps at UI for two months, it is still important to be up-to-date with the MMR vaccine because the measles outbreak that started in California has spread to Washington.
“Students who have been susceptible to the mumps may be susceptible to the measles,” Tatham said. “We don’t want it to spread to UI.”
Mary Malone can be reached at [email protected]