County health officials keeping eye on mumps cases in state

Friday, March 24, 2017

Cases of the mumps disease are popping up all across Kansas, but to date none have been reported in Bourbon County, officials said.

"I'm thankful to say there are not any in our county or none reported by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment," Bourbon County Public Health Nurse Alice Maffett said Wednesday. "There's a lot of activity in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma."

According to KDHE, 79 cases of mumps have been reported in 18 Kansas counties as of March 18, and cases continue to be reported throughout the state. Counties with the most reported cases as of that date are Crawford (14), Douglas (16), Johnson and Marshall with eight cases each. Those numbers could change as investigations continue.

KDHE and affected local health departments are working closely together to identify cases and implement appropriate isolation and exclusion policies to prevent further spread of the disease. Many cases are associated with participating in sports, including wrestling and basketball, in Kansas.

There are also associations with the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and travel to other states that are also currently experiencing large mumps outbreaks, according to KDHE.

According to a KDHE summary of reported cases, 52 percent are female and 48 percent are male; the age range is 13 to 57 years with a median age of 20 years; four cases with complications; one hospitalization due to mumps; 64 cases, or 84 percent, reported vaccination; eight percent reported not vaccinated and eight percent had no known vaccination history.

The number of mumps cases by week since the first reported cases ranges from six cases the week of Dec. 4 to a reported high of 13 cases the week of Feb. 19. Weekly cases rose from five the week of Jan. 29 to 13 the week of Feb. 19 and then dipped back down to 11 cases by March 5 and about four cases by March 12, according to KDHE.

Maffett said while there are no mumps cases, the county is seeing "a lot of flu," particularly one type of flu as the flu season winds down.