Harvard Kids Are Going to Be Up in Arms When They Hear How Their Big Day Could Be Ruined

The campus of one of America’s most prestigious colleges has been dealing with a large outbreak of mumps since February.

Now, one administrator is warning students that it could affect a day that some of them have been looking forward to for years.

#Mumps #outbreak at Harvard University continues to grow, with 41 confirmed cases: https://t.co/spxSDd0RPl http://pic.twitter.com/YYnQfngfg5

— ID in Children (@IDinChildren) April 28, 2016

The number of people infected by the virus-borne illness at Massachusetts’s Harvard University has reached 41, according to ABC News.

And other nearby schools have started to see smaller outbreaks.

Image Credit: Screenshot/ABC News

The Centers for Disease Control reports that mumps can take hold easily on college campuses, considering close proximities of dorm life and, well, lots of kissing:

Image Credit: Screenshot/ABC News

CNN has reported that all of the people infected at Harvard had immunization shots before they contracted mumps, according to the local health department. But no vaccine can provide 100% immunity.

Paul J. Barreira, the university’s director of health services, is now warning students that if they don’t stop infecting each other, it could interfere with commencement ceremonies on May 26th.

Image Credit: Darren McCollester/Getty Images

He told The Harvard Crimson newspaper:

“If there’s a spike this week, that means those students expose others, so now we’re looking at a potential serious interruption to commencement for students.”

Barreira added that students would need to stay “in isolation” to keep from spreading the virus.

And it appears that some of the kids are taking his warning seriously, ABC News reports.

One other factor — aside from the close quarters and amount of PDA on campus — might be helping the transmission of the mumps virus, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Sometimes, there are very mild or no symptoms at all. But Mayo says that people can watch out for swollen, painful salivary glands on one or both sides of your face (parotitis), fever, headache and muscle aches.

The post Harvard Kids Are Going to Be Up in Arms When They Hear How Their Big Day Could Be Ruined appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

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