After a long winter vacation, the mumps have ceased to be a hot button issue among the USM student body. The university is officially out of “outbreak” mode, and, as a resident director from Gorham puts it, the mumps is “certainly no longer the topic of conversation.”
According to Ann Conley, clinical manager of the USM Health Center, the University experienced three cases of the mumps. The first case was confirmed by the Maine Center for Disease Control on Nov. 28. One of the confirmed cases was a student who had, in fact, received the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine. According to the United States Center for Disease Control, this occurs in about 20 percent of patients who have received only one dose of the vaccine, and in 10 percent of those who received both doses.
At the time of the initial outbreak, 1,300 full time USM students had not received the two doses of MMR vaccine required for a patient to be considered immune. By Dec. 5, this number had been reduced to 400, only 50 of whom were residents of USM dorms.
By the end of last semester, only 70 full time students remained un-immunized. An undisclosed number of students were quarantined at their homes for ten days.
Conley said that several contingencies were being considered for quarantining possible mumps patients on campus. Ultimately, this point was moot.
“We got very lucky. Everyone lived close enough to home that we didn’t need to accommodate anyone on campus.”
Students who remained untreated were able to complete coursework by making arrangements with professors. “We didn’t have a single complaint,” Conley noted with pride. “Students at USM have been very understanding.”
Mumps-related anxiety has generally subsided, but administration remains on guard against the possibility of a new outbreak. Craig Hutchinson, Vice President of Student Life, described the university’s current attitude towards the virus in a casual yet carefully measured tone, “I think that there is a better than usual chance of recurrence, so the university continues to be mindful of the situation.”
In accordance with a new mandate from the MCDC, all degree-seekingstudents in the state-rather than just those full-time-need to be vaccinated for mumps. This means that part-time students are now required to have proof of immunity to the mumps.
Though the MCDC’s mandate is not yet law, hearings are pending in the Maine state legislature that would add the MMR vaccine to the list of mandatory vaccinations that students need to receive in order to attend classes in Maine.
This past Wednesday, says Hutchinson, the university sent 1,300 new emails and letters to students, informing them that they need to provide proof of vaccination. These emails were sent to newly matriculated students, as well as those part-time and other students who, if the new law passes, would be required to be vaccinated.
The USM Health Center has administered 550 doses of the MMR vaccine since December. Approximately 100 of these doses have been given since the start of this semester. The Health Center does not keep track of whether the students are receiving the first or second dose of the vaccine, but Conley did say that “the majority of the doses we supply are second doses.”