Mumps in Manitoba 12 times higher than normal

Mumps continues to spread in Manitoba and the government is worried the problem could get worse as university students go home for the holidays.

Manitoba typically sees up to five cases of mumps a year, but since September there have been 61 cases 12 times higher than normal.

• Lack of herd immunity could cause mumps to spread, says province
• Mumps strikes on University of Manitoba campus

Most people infected with the virus are 17 to 29 years old and are students living in Winnipeg and connected to the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg or Universit de St. Boniface, said the province.

Health officials are now concerned that infected students may return home or attend parties and spread the illness to more people out in the community.

Mumps is highly contagious, according to Health Canada, and can live in your nose, mouth, eyes and on your skin.

The virus can spread through direct contact, like kissing, through the air via coughs and sneezes and by touching objects exposed to an infected person's mucus or saliva like drinking glasses.

It can take two weeks to 25 days for mumps to show up, and people are most contagious two days before symptoms even start.

Most people with mumps have a full recoverywithin two weeks but some can develop serious complications, including fertility problems and meningitis (inflammation around the brain and spinal cord).

Provincial officials said key symptoms of mumps to watch out for includeswelling and pain in one or more salivary glands, usually on both sides of the face, and a fever.

To help stop the spread of mumps, Manitobans are asked to:

• Wash hands often with soap.
• Avoid sharing drinking glasses and utensils.
• Cover coughs and sneezes.
• Stay home when sick.
• Ensure you have been vaccinated.

A vaccination that protects people frommumps is offered free of charge at 12 months of age and again at four to six in Manitoba.

The mumps vaccine is 62 to 91 per cent effective with a first dose and between 76 to 95 per cent effective after two doses, Health Canada states.

For more information about preventing the spread of mumps, people can contactHealth LinksInfo Sant at 204-788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257.