The apparent mumps outbreak at the Rose Hill campus of Fordham has expanded to the Lincoln Center campus, with one case reported there, bringing the number of cases university wide to 13, officials said Thursday.
“All the students with suspected mumps infections have either returned home or have been isolated from other residents during the infectious phase,” of their illness, Fordham said in a statement. All Fordham students are required to have full vaccination protection. Students who are thought to have been infected with the virus were all vaccinated, officials said. While the university did not have laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis, mumps was believed to be the culprit, based on the symptoms of the students affected.
While vaccinations typically offer immunity, “a very small percentage of people may not be protected,” even after a second dose of mumps vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Typically mumps patients are contagious for two days prior to the outbreak of symptoms and five days after,” according to the Fordham statement.
There is no treatment for mumps, a now rare and extremely contagious disease marked by fever, headaches, loss of appetite and swollen salivary glands.
