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The Dayton Daily News will continue to provide the most up-to-date information on the UD mumps outbreak
The University of Dayton confirmed two new cases of mumps on campus Wednesday, bringing the total number to nine since the first case was reported early last week.
Montgomery County health officials said there are 19 reported illnesses connected to the local mumps outbreak.
Test results for a handful of suspected cases have not yet been released. But UD has established a website — go.udayton.edu/mumps — where the number of positive test results will be updated as well as tips for keeping the outbreak, defined as three or more cases, under control.
“We are working closely with public health officials, and notifying the campus community out of an abundance of caution,” read a statement from UD President Daniel Curran and Provost Paul Benson. “The health and safety of our faculty, staff and students are of the utmost importance.”
School officials are encouraging students to get vaccinated and take other steps to help prevent the spread of mumps, such as covering coughs and frequently washing hands.
But many of the students who have tested positive for mumps, which can cause fever, headache, muscle aches and swollen salivary glands, were already vaccinated, according to Montgomery County health officials.
In addition to UD, Miami University in Oxford confirmed at least one case of the mumps last week, but no other cases had been reported as of Wednesday.
Students with mumps are being isolated until they are no longer contagious, which can take about five days.
While mumps cases have seen a sharp decline in recent years, outbreaks still happen and are most prevalent in high-contact social settings like college campuses, where the disease is transmitted through the air or by touching unwashed, contaminated surfaces.
At Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., there have been 40 confirmed cases of the mumps since the outbreak was first reported on Feb. 29.
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