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Published Date: 2012-06-21 19:20:42
Subject: PRO/EDR> Mumps - Spain (03): (Catalonia) Girona
Archive Number: 20120621.1176218

MUMPS - SPAIN (03): (CATALONIA), GIRONA
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Date: Thu 21 Jun 2012
Source: Vanguardia.com Girona [in Spanish, machine trans. edited]
http://www.lavanguardia.com/local/girona/20120620/54314548761/paperas-brote-girona.html

The mumps outbreak that has affected the surrounding region since the 2nd half of December [2011] has entered its final stage. The official responsible for epidemiological surveillance in Girona, Neus Camps, explained that there has been no case since late May 2012 and, therefore, the outbreak is expected to terminate in late June 2012.

In total, 148 people have been affected, of whom only 3 have had complications that resulted in hospitalisation. Experts point out that vaccination is essential to prevent outbreaks of communicable diseases. This year [2012], nearly 7000 young people between 16 and 19 years of age whose vaccination status was inadequate will have been revaccinated with MMR vaccine.

A group of people from Girona at the end of the year [2011] traveled to an area of the country where mumps virus infection was prevalent. When they returned home, 5 members of the group fell ill a few days after their return. Medical tests diagnosed mumps, a disease that causes a very characteristic swelling of glands located under each cheek. No specific treatment for mumps is available. Vaccination is the best protection.

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[Mumps spreads from person to person via droplets of saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose, or throat of an infected person, usually when the person coughs, sneezes, or talks. The virus may also be spread indirectly when someone with mumps touches items or surfaces without washing their hands and then someone else touches the same surface and rubs their mouth or nose. However, mumps is less contagious than measles or chickenpox. The incubation period of mumps is usually 16 to 18 days but can range from 12 to 25 days. Individuals with mumps usually 1st feel sick with nonspecific symptoms like headache, loss of appetite, and low-grade fever.

The most well-known sign of mumps is "parotitis," the swelling of the salivary glands, or parotid glands, below the ear. Parotitis occurs only in 30-40% of individuals infected with mumps. Some people with mumps have no signs or symptoms of illness; others may have respiratory symptoms or only nonspecific symptoms such as headache, loss of appetite, and low-grade fever.

In children, mumps is usually a mild disease. Adults may have more serious disease and more complications. Central nervous system involvement (meningitis) is common, but is usually not serious. Meningitis (with headache, stiff neck) occurs in up to 15 percent of people with mumps but usually resolves without any permanent damage. Up to 50 percent of postpubertal males experience orchitis (testicular inflammation) as a complication of mumps. This may involve pain, swelling, nausea, vomiting, and fever, with tenderness of the area possibly lasting for weeks. Approximately half of patients with orchitis have some degree of testicular atrophy, but sterility is rare.

Inflammation of the ovaries (oophoritis) and/or breasts (mastitis) can occur in females who have reached puberty. An increase in spontaneous abortion has been found among women who developed mumps during the 1st trimester of pregnancy in some studies but not in others; however, there is no evidence that mumps causes birth defects. Deafness, in one or both ears, can occur in approximately one per 20 000 reported cases of mumps.

People with mumps are usually considered most infectious from a few days before until 5 days after the onset of parotitis. Mumps patients should be isolated for 5 days after their glands begin to swell. If the exposed person has not been vaccinated against mumps, receiving the vaccine after exposure to the virus will not help prevent disease; vaccination may help against future exposure (from: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4211.pdf).

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Guell. The population numbered 96 722 in January 2011. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca (district) of the Girones. The interactive HealthMap of Catalonia can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/2Cxf. - Mod.CP]

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