Monmouth County School Warns Of Possible Mumps Case

Officials at a Monmouth County school district are warning parents about a possible case of the mumps.

Officials at Memorial School in Union Beach sent a letter home to parents on June 4 that said “a person at school has probable mumps.”

The letter did not offer any other information about that person. It did not say if it was a staff member or a student, nor did it say when that person was last in the school building.

The letter went on to provide additional information about mumps, explaining that it’s a “virus that causes painful swelling of one or more salivary glands, a low-grade fever, and headache.”

It is spread through coughing, sneezing or direct contact with the saliva of an infected person. Symptoms usually within 16 to 18 days of exposure, but can develop as early as 12 days or as late as 25 days after exposure, the letter said.

School officials urged parents to contact their health care providers if their children showed signs of “fever, headache, and tiredness, loss of appetite and/or swelling of the glands around the ears or neck.”

Severe complications are rare, but can cause problems including inflammation of the brain, inflammation of the ovaries, sterility, or deafness, according to the notice sent to parents.

Generally, children receive the MMR vaccine -- mumps, measles and rubella -- at the age of 12- to 15-months, with a second shot between the ages of 4- and 6-years-old, the letter said.

For more information, call the Monmouth County Health Department at 732-431-7456 or visit the CDC’s mumps fact sheet.