Mumps outbreak prompts booster campaign

Health workers in Nova Scotia will be immunized against the mumps as the province continues to grapple with anoutbreak of the highly contagious disease.

Details of the new plan were announced Friday as the number of cases hit 222.

Health officials said 40,000 doses of a mumps booster will be made available to workers across the provinceso immunization can begin next week.

"A vaccination campaign will not stop the outbreak, but what it will do is help to manage absenteeism in health-care workers as a result of the mumps," Dr. Shelly Sarwal, a medical officer of health, said in a release.

Nova Scotia has been hitwith a stubborn outbreak of the mumps. There have been 222 reported cases since February. Though the numbers are down in the Halifax region, they're up in rural areas.

Most of the people with mumps are between the ages of 20 and 25, so Sarwal said health officials are consideringimmunizing the university-age population.

People born between 1970 and 1992 are most at risk. Most were immunized for the mumps, measles and rubella once, but for some it wasn't enough.

Mumpscauses swollen and tender glands and other flu-like symptoms, but can also lead to sterility, deafness and viral meningitis.

It's spread by coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks and food and kissing. Itcan be contagious for about seven days before symptoms appear, and up to nine days after.