Not unexpectedly, the number of mumps cases at UC Berkeley has grown in the past week.
Since the first cases were reported on October 1, the cases have steadily increased. There are now a total of 44 suspected and confirmed cases on campus.
The original case was a student who had traveled to Great Britain, where the student contracted mumps, and then spread it to other students upon arriving back at school. This should also not be totally unexpected, as rates of mumps have been high in England, mirroring their high rates of measles due to decreased uptake of the MMR vaccine. In 2010, for example, there were 2,871 confirmed cases of mumps in England and Wales. There were even more cases in 2009 - 5,695 cases of mumps. The worst year by far though was in 2005, when they had 43,378 confirmed cases of mumps, the vast majority in unvaccinated teens and young adults.
Previous mumps outbreaks in the U.S. in 2006 and 2009 have spread to thousands of people. Hopefully this one is contained much more quickly.
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CDC Mumps Epidemic - UK, 04-05
Mumps outbreak at UC Berkeley grows to over suspected and confirmed 40 cases
