East Coast mumps outbreak reaches Toronto

The mumps outbreakon the East Coastappears to have spread to Toronto, with the city's public health authority confirming three cases of the infectious disease Tuesday.

An outbreak ofmumps beganinFebruaryin Halifax and is believed to have spread to the two other Maritime provinces and even British Columbia.Most of the cases were in Nova Scotia, with 222 confirmed cases.

Two of those infected in Toronto are students who returned tothe cityfrom university in Halifax and the third person is a close contact of one of the students.

The Toronto public health unit said that the third person was at the Supermarket Restaurant and Bar on Augusta Avenue last Thursday for several hours while infectious with mumps and may have unknowingly spread the virus to others.

Three other cases directly linked to the Nova Scotia outbreak have been confirmed in Ontario by the Ottawa, York and Waterloo public health units.

Most cases have involved young adults who may have received only one dose of the combination measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as a child.

Since the mid-1990s, most Canadian jurisdictions have moved to a two-dose regime after learning one dose wasn't effective enough for some.

Mumps causes swollen, tender glands and other flu-like symptoms, such as fever and headaches. The disease, however, can have serious consequences and lead to sterility, deafness and viral meningitis.

An infected person can spread it by coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks or food and kissing.