More than 1,100 cases of mumps, a highly contagious virus, have been reported in Iowa and eight neighboring Midwestern states.

Most of the cases, to date, have been mild, and among college-age teens and young adults.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing, or from contact with the mucus or saliva of an infected person. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, cough, and swelling of the cheek or jaw from enlarged salivary glands. Severe complications are rare but can include hearing loss, aseptic meningitis, and in about 25 percent of males who have reached puberty, painful, swollen testicles that in some instances can cause sterility.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all children receive a Mumps Measles and Rubella (MMR) vaccine at age 1, and again between the ages of 4 and 6. The mumps vaccine is highly effective (95 percent), although effectiveness is diminished when children do not receive the second recommended MMR vaccine.

Children and teens age 4 and older who did not receive a second MMR vaccine should be vaccinated again. There are no reports of vaccine shortages. Approximately 25,000 MMR vaccine doses were donated to the CDC for distribution in affected areas.

Anyone with mumps-related symptoms should immediately contact their pediatrician or health care provider.

As of April 19, 2006, Iowa had reported 815 confirmed or probable cases of mumps. Another 350 cases were reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. This is the largest U.S. mumps outbreak in more than 20 years.

Air travel by two infected people may have helped spread the disease from Iowa into neighboring states.

Additional resources: AAP Immunization Initiatives Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule Red Book Online Mumps Chapter Centers for Disease Control and Prevention State of Iowa Department of Public Health