Mumps Reported At Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, TN — A "small number" of mumps cases have been diagnoses in the Vanderbilt University community, school officials advised staff and students via email Thursday.

None of the diagnosed students are still or in isolation, but the university is warning there may be more cases in coming weeks.

Student Health Center staff members are working with the Metropolitan Nashville Health Department, the Tennessee Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and experts in Infection Prevention at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The CDC is not recommending a third MMR booster for students yet, but that decision may change depending on the scale of the outbreak.

Vanderbilt is the second Nashville campus stricken with mumps in recent weeks. A case was reported at Belmont at the end of January.

The current mumps outbreak is the worst in the United States in a decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. There were 5,311 cases reported in the United States in 2016, with Arkansas experiencing the worst outbreak. Outbreaks are very common in places where people live and work in close proximity, making college campuses particularly susceptible. Separate outbreaks on college campuses on Illinois and Iowa between 2015 and 2016 resulted in several hundred students coming down with the disease and prompting vaccination pushes on campuses.

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Image via Wikimedia user Dr. Graham Beards, used under Creative Commons