US reports largest mumps outbreak in 3 years

By MIKE STOBBE | AP Medical Writer • Published November 12, 2009

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ATLANTA – U.S. health officials say the largest U.S. outbreak of mumps in three years is occurring in New York and New Jersey.

About 180 cases were identified in those two states from the time an investigation began in August through the end of October. Another 15 cases tied to the same outbreak have been reported in Canada. Three people have been hospitalized but no deaths were reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak was first reported at a boys camp in Sullivan County, N.Y. It may have been triggered by an 11-year-old boy from the United Kingdom, where an ongoing mumps outbreak has sickened about 4,000.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing with the most common symptoms being fever, headache and swollen salivary glands under the jaw. It sometimes lead to serious problems such as hearing loss, meningitis and fertility-diminishing swollen testicles.