ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Mumps is a disease you may have heard of in history books. We're hearing about it this week too. School leaders in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public School District informed parents Sundayabout a positive diagnosis in a middle schooler.
They said the district is working closely with public health officials to monitor the situation.
Previous coverage: Student at River Road Middle School in Elizabeth City diagnosed with mumps
"The great concern will be unvaccinated classmates because it's highly contagious and the patient is shedding the virus (contagious) before they feel sick," explained Dr. Gary Moss, Sanford Health-affiliated allergist/immunologist.
Dr. Moss said mumps has been nearly eradicated nationwide since the MMR vaccine—a combination vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella—was introduced decades ago.
"We don't see it that much since vaccination started," he said. "I've actually never seen a real case of mumps before."
Watch related coverage: What to know about mumps
He's concerned that vaccination rates may continue to decline nationally. The Virginia Department of Health reports that the MMR vaccine is part of the required childhood series in Virginia for school attendance, although there are religious and medical exemptions. Still, the National Institutes of Health said vaccination rates have been declining across the country largely due to delayed childhood vaccines during the pandemic, barriers to access, and general vaccine hesitancy.
"[If rates continue to decline] I think within one to three years we're going to see outbreaks of mumps and measles, it has a lag time. There's something called 'herd immunity'. If 99 percent of people get vaccinated and someone gets sick it stops there. If enough people don't get vaccinated it starts spreading," explained Dr. Moss.
In 2024, there were 11 reported cases of mumps in Virginia and seven in North Carolina, according to the CDC.
Dr. Moss says that while there are some reasons why people may not get vaccinated, cases of mumps, measles, and rubella are preventable with the MMR vaccine.
Watch related coverage: Health officials see an uptick in COVID cases this summer, new vaccine in September: VDH
"These are long-lasting vaccines. So it's possible if herd immunity fails, some adults would get it, but if they had the vaccine, it wouldn't be as severe," said Moss. "We are immunologists, so we talk to people about vaccines very frequently, and we try to show them what the risks and benefits are. And while there's risk and benefits to everything, the risks here are very low. These are highly preventable diseases that we have vaccines for that have many decades of being safe and effective."
In the Elizabeth City case, the school district said that after a diagnosis is confirmed, "additional notices, control measures, and contact tracing are done."
A single case isn't reason to raise the alarm either, according to the CDC. The CDC reports it takes at least three cases that are linked by time and place to be considered an outbreak.
For more information on mumps symptoms and how it is spread, visit the CDC's website.
