There has been an outbreak of mumps in colleges around Dublin including Dublin City University, Trinity College and also Blackrock college in the last few months.
Students who think they may have the mumps are being urged to stay away from college.
Mumps is a viral infection that mainly affects the glands causing major swelling. It is very contagious and can have serious complications if not treated properly.
It can lead to inflammation of the brain and also inflammation of the tissue covering the brain and the spinal cord causing the person to get meningitis.
People who have the mumps are to stay away and have no contact with anyone until the infection has passed.
When asked on what students should do when they get the mumps, Jessie Byrne who is head of the Student Health Service at DCU said that “Any student that is diagnosed with/or suspects they may have mumps should stay at home for five days as per protocol from the HSE”.
People that have not got the MMR vaccine which is a vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella are being urged to do so and not only with one dose of the vaccine but two doses.
Many students that are in their teens now may not have gotten the vaccine when they were the appropriate age for it which would have been at 9 to 15 months. And then a second dose at 15 months to six years of age as back in 1999 there was bad press around the vaccine at that time.
Andrew Wakefield’s now discredited research on the vaccine saying it was linked to autism caused a drop–in children getting the vaccine as parents feared the risk of it after getting the vaccine.
It is severely advised that anyone who has not gotten the MMR vaccine must get it whenever they can.
Jessie Byrne said that “It is very important that all students should ensure they are protected by the MMR vaccine before they start college”.