News Release                              For Immediate Release

                                                                                                                         May 11, 2007

Mumps Outbreak in Three Maritime Provinces

Public Health officials are concerned with an ongoing mumps outbreak in three Maritime provinces and the potential for the disease to spread locally. From mid-January to May 4, 2007, 203 cases were reported in Nova Scotia, 34 cases in New Brunswick and one confirmed case in Prince Edward Island.

Most cases have occurred in university-aged students (median age 22 in Nova Scotia). As the school term ends, many students are now returning home and back to Ontario.

One confirmed case, with links to Nova Scotia, became ill while visiting Grey Bruce. As of May 8, 2007, five confirmed cases of mumps in Ontario have links to the outbreak in Nova Scotia.

Until 1996 when a second dose of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine was recommended for children aged four to six, a single dose of MMR was routinely administered. Today, a two-dose MMR schedule is required in children. The first dose is administered on or after the first birthday, and a second dose administered at 18 months of age. Many of the reported cases only received the single dose vaccine.

With students returning home from the Maritimes, it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of mumps. Any student who is travelling to and from Nova Scotia, who has not had mumps and who had received only one MMR in childhood, should receive a second MMR.

People travelling to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick should ensure that their immunizations are up-to-date. If not, they need to arrange with their family physician/health care provider or public health unit to be updated. People who have never had the mumps or who have only received one MMR in the past would benefit from immunization.

Signs and symptoms of mumps include fever, swollen glands at the jawbone on one or both sides of the face. Other symptoms include swollen testicles and joints. The infection is usually much more severe in adults than children.

• Mode of transmission - airborne or droplet spread (coughing or sneezing), or direct contact with the saliva of an infected person
• Incubation period (from the time of exposure until showing symptoms) is about 14 - 25 days.
• Period of Communicability - can occur 7 days before to 9 days after the onset of symptoms. Maximum infectiousness occurs between 2 days before to 4 days after the onset of illness.

For further information call Public Health at 519-376-9420 or visit our web site at www.publichealthgreybruce.on.ca.

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For more information:

Karen Sweiger

Program Manager, Vaccine Preventable Disease Program

Grey Bruce Health Unit

519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 ext. 230