I've been reading all about it, but what do you do if you get it? Just wait it out? How long before you can go back to work/school? Any of you mommies ever had it? I've never been vaccinated, and am getting nervous (the epidemic is slowly taking over Illinois now). It sounds like one of those diseases that's not necessarily life-threatening, but very inconvenient and uncomfortable.

By Cat on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 03:18 pm:

Mumps It's a virus. Treatment is symptomatic. I've been researching this today because the base seems to be freaking out about it, saying that we child care providers may need the vaccine. I vaccinated as a child and my mom thinks I had it. If they do say we have to get another shot, I will refuse. The military and vaccinations is a hot subject with me.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 03:36 pm:

I had mumps when I was 4 years old. I don't remember how long I was sick, though. I just know I had an ear infection with it and my ears were draining. I think you have to pretty much wait it out, since it's a virus. I don't remember being sick all that long, though.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 03:39 pm:

I had mumps at age 8 on both sides, I was sick for 3 weeks. I remember my mom saying she had mumps in the house for 9 weeks straight with the 3 of us.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 03:42 pm:

Mumps

By Janet on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 04:51 pm:

Should I get a vaccine? I'm 44...(or will be in a month!)...

By Vicki on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 05:00 pm:

Have they stopped vaccinating for this? I am sure that dd had the MMR shot! She is 11. Have they stopped in recent years or why is this breaking out now? I guess I am out of the loop on this one. Didn't even know this was going on!!

By Cat on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 05:28 pm:

The mumps vaccination is included in the MMR. Kids now get two doses of the shot. When we were kids there was only one shot. There is an outbreak of mumps right now that has people concerned and they're now saying that one shot is only 95% effective and the second shot is for the 5% that doesn't have full immunity from the first shot. If you had the mumps your body has a natural immunity.

By Cat on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 05:37 pm:

Well, there was a shot for some of us as children. I think they started it sometime in the 60's.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 06:17 pm:

I think I still got a mumps shot, in elementary school, even though I'd had the disease. I remember getting quite a few shots in elementary school. My kids each had an MMR at 15 months and then agan at 5, before kindergarten.

By Pamt on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 06:52 pm:

Janet are you sure you haven't had it? They usually check when you are pregnant b/c getting mumps of German measles when pregnant can cause some significant birth defects. Check with your OB-GYN. The biggest thing about the mumps is that it can cause sterility in boys who have been through puberty. It's really nothing to mess with. With more and more people refusing vaccinations it is going to become a bigger and bigger problem unfortunately, with other diseases that are more lethal, like whooping cough. When I was on my Operation Smile trip the pediatrician intensivist (a pediatrician who works in the ICU) told me he had started to see his first cases of measles EVER in his hospital in Canada. Scary stuff!

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:30 am:

The whole mumps outbreak here in KS is frightening. Since it has been basically contained to a small area, a couple counties, which makes me wonder if they had a bad batch of vaccines. Either way, my grandmom is all concerned about it, even though all of us had our vaccines in other states, and my kids aren't in school. Mumps is one of those things I never thought I'd have to be concerned with, like polio or something.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:35 am:

Cat, my kids have had their MMR shots already, but are coming up on 4 year well child shots. I'm not sure I want to continue with the vaccines, but know the military will battle me on it. Is there any way to deal with that? I don't think they should be able to force me to do something to my children that I don't feel is best.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 05:49 am:

Crystal, why do you feel it is not good for your children to have the vaccinations? By that, I mean do you have some scientific reading or other science-based reason for this?

You mention thinking you wouldn't have to be concerned about mumps, anymore than you would about polio. My mom had polio, which was the reason I was one of the first in line in my community when the first polio vaccine came out. The reason you never thought you'd have to be concerned about mumps, or measles, is because almost all children in the U.S. get the MMR shots, so these diseases became rare in the U.S. That's one of the reasons the mumps outbreaks in the Midwest are making headline news - most people thought we'd never have to worry about mumps again.

I can tell you that mumps for an adult has the potential for being a very serious illness, and can sometimes be really dangerous.

I note that most of the people getting mumps are college age people. I think two things factor into it - they probably didn't get the booster that is recommended at around age 15, and college dorms are perfect places for spreading airborne diseases. I very much doubt it was a bad batch of vaccine - it may be confined to a few counties in KS right now, but it is in many states in the Midwest and the people coming down with it wouldn't all have had their shots from the same batch.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 07:35 am:

There have been a few cases of mumps, in WI.

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 08:47 am:

Michigan had 23 cases of mumps last year. Apparently the mumps virus isn't totally obsolete, and the vaccination is only 90% effective, but as Ginny said, in environments where viruses are able to spread easily, such as college dorms, it can quickly become an epidemic.

At this point in Michigan there are only 3 confirmed cases of the mumps, and there are several others pending confirmation. They have not linked our cases to the Iowa epidemic.

Ginny, I read that there are suspicions that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism, but there is no proof yet. Maybe that is part of Crystal's concern?

By Cat on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 09:41 am:

Crystal, I emailed you.

By Janet on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 10:42 am:

Pam, no, I'm not sure...just going by my old kidhood records that Mom gave me. I had vaccines before going to college, too, so maybe it was in there somewhere. My kids are up to date, and that's what I'm most concerned about. Thanks again for the info!

By Marcia on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 11:33 am:

Ginny, I know it seems odd, but the batches of vaccines age so huge that one batch can be sent out all over the states. I no longer have the literature on it, but at one time I did. It showed how a bad batch was of the pertussis vaccine was sent to many different states, even though they were aware there were problems. Kids were showing up with seizure disorders all over the place at the time, linking back to the bad batch. That was in the late 70's. I know this has nothing to do with the original topic, but I just wanted to point that out.

By Kay on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 11:50 am:

I had the mumps when I was about 7 or 8 years old (gee, that was 40 years ago!). I remember waking up, and my mother walking in and exclaimed "Omigosh, you've got the mumps". It really ticked me off, because I missed my class Christmas party because of it.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:59 pm:

Lisa, I have read that also (links to autism). I have also read of studies, particularly one in Denmark involving thousands of children, which strongly disprove that possible link. Those who claim a link say that the preservative used in the vaccines, thimerosol, is the villain. I just did some googling and the children in the Danish study were vaccinated with vaccines which did not contain thimerosol.

I think I recall that vaccines are now being produced without thimerosol, so if there is a link, making sure that a vaccine without thimerosol would seem to be the thing to do.

By Colette on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 01:04 pm:

They are being produced without it, BUT you have to request thimerosol free vaccines from your doctor.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 01:14 pm:

Ginny, I'm not opposed to all vaccines, but had my hand forced with the chicken pox vaccine when I did NOT want my children to get it. I want to be as prepared as possible in the future to make an educated decision rather than blindly following the doctor's orders. Around here, a lot of the cases are school age children, which is hinting at the possibility of a bad vaccine.

By Tink on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 01:27 pm:

And some vaccines do still contain thimerosal, namely the flu and varicella vaccines. While many vaccines are no longer produced with thimerosal, those that were already on doctors' shelves are still being used. You have to request those with mercury-free preservatives, specifically. The current MMR vaccines should be safe, especially if you mention a thimerosal-free vaccine.

We've chosen not to fully vaccinate our dks and the ones we have chosen are being done individually, rather than in groups. We've also waited until they were a little older so that their immune systems are a little more developed. Choosing to vaccinate according to a doctor's schedule or not is a personal decision. I just hope that every set of parents makes an informed decision.

By Marcia on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 04:04 pm:

Tink, my doctor is originally from Ireland, and she said they start the immunizations later like you suggested. She felt it was wise, and it made sense to me.
Mine have also had separate shots for DPTP, excluding the pertussis. They sure hated me at those moments, as 2 needles went in, but they certainly don't remember.