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CDC confirms first indigenous mumps case for this year

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed the nation's first indigenous mumps case for this year.

The case involves a 11-year-old boy in central Yunlin County, who displayed symptoms including high fever, loss of appetite, headache and swelling and pain in the parotid glands on May 4, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) said.

Doctors diagnosed the boy as being infected with mumps on May 5, with test results confirming the diagnosis on May 21, Lin said.

The boy was infected despite having previously received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, Lin said.

None of his family members or classmates have displayed symptoms of infection, Lin said.

He said that the MMR vaccination did not provide 100 percent protection against mumps infection, with protection reaching 80 percent after the first dose and rising to 90 percent after the second dose.

Despite this deficiency, Lin urged parents to make sure their children received the first dose of MMR vaccine when they are between 12-15 months old and the second dose during their first year of elementary school.

The MMR immunization is important to prevent an epidemic similar to the most recent measles outbreak in Japan's Kanto region, he added.

Mumps is an acute viral infection transmissible through saliva and is prevalent during winter and spring, the CDC said.

While 20 percent to 30 percent of mumps-infected men develop inflammation of the testicles, 5 percent of mumps-infected women develop inflammation of the ovaries, and infection during the first three months of pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.
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