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As of the beginning of April, there have been 45 cases of mumps on Indiana college campuses. Purdue University is investigating five probable cases.
file photoWEST LAFAYETTE -- As of the beginning of April, there have been 45 cases of mumps on Indiana college campuses.
State health department data says the largest mumps outbreaks have occurred at Indiana University and Butler University, who have reported 17 and 24 confirmed cases, respectively. IUPUI has seen four mumps cases since the beginning of this year.
The number of cases could be going up, too. Purdue announced Wednesday the university is investigating five confirmed or probable cases of the mumps virus on its West Lafayette campus.
Mugdha Golwalkar ,vaccine-preventable disease epidemiologist for the state health department, says spring break might have been a factor in the virus’s spread between campuses.
“The concern with travel and especially with spring break is you see people congregating in a lot of locations and mingling with people from a lot of different areas,” Golwalkar says.
All these schools require their students to receive an MMR vaccine, which protects against mumps. However, experts say even after two shots, the vaccine is not 100 percent effective for every person.
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