HILO — The number of confirmed mumps cases on Hawaii Island has climbed to eight.
HILO — The number of confirmed mumps cases on Hawaii Island has climbed to eight.
“If you are seeing cases in your community, the likelihood of seeing additional cases should be expected,” said Ronald Balajadia, immunization branch chief at the state Department of Health.
He said people diagnosed with mumps on the Big Island range in age from 6 to 39. He declined to say where the new cases occurred.
Earlier this month, Naalehu Elementary School notified parents that mumps had been confirmed in a student. The student was asked to stay home for two weeks, the Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area superintendent said last week.
Mumps is a highly transmissible virus that vaccination had controlled until outbreaks began worsening in 2006. It’s problematic because a person is contagious for two days before facial swelling starts and for nine days afterward.
Mumps have become a nationwide problem, with only three states currently reporting no cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: West Virginia, South Dakota and Wyoming. In Hawaii, 312 confirmed cases of mumps have been reported this year.
Balajadia’s plea is that people diagnosed with mumps — which has flu-like symptoms — stay home from work or school while their condition is transmissible.
He said vaccination against mumps is 88 percent effective, meaning 12 percent of vaccinated people are at risk for development of mumps despite the MMR (measles mumps rubella) vaccination. Cases that develop among vaccinated individuals, though, tend to be less severe than without vaccination.
Balajadia encourages people to talk with a physician about vaccination.
People risk getting exposed, according to the CDC, by doing things like standing near someone who coughs or sneezes, sipping from the same glass of water, living in close quarters with a large group of friends or family, or eating from a shared plate of food — all of which are common in Hawaii.
Why are mumps a problem now? Balajadia said it’s been many years since a major mumps outbreak. Hawaii’s vaccination rate for school kids is greater than 90 percent, Balajadia. That means 10 percent of kids in school are susceptible because they’re not vaccinated for religious or health reasons, and 22 percent of vaccinated people overall are also susceptible to mumps.
“It’s a large pool of susceptibles,” Balajadia said. “If people were not vaccinated to that degree, we would be seeing way more cases.”
The Department of Health’s website urges anyone born after 1957 to get an MMR vaccination if the person has had no vaccination, or only one dose.
People born before 1957 are presumed to already have been infected with mumps and have built immunity.
All children are supposed to get two doses of MMR, one at age 12-15 months and a second at age 4-6 years, the CDC recommends.
However, state health officials recommend online that “due to the continued circulation of mumps in Hawaii, children between 1-4 years of age should receive their second dose now.”
The second dose should be given at least four weeks after the first.
The rise in Big Island cases to eight, Balajadia said, should trigger people to be especially cautious about protecting themselves from exposure and about protecting others.
Wash hands repeatedly, he urged. Avoid sharing cups, spoons and forks with others. If someone is coughing or sneezing, turn away.