Vaccinations matter
Dozens in Franklin County are being sickened by mumps, a highly infectious disease that could have been stopped in its tracks had more people been vaccinated.
An outbreak that began in February at Ohio State University has spread into the community. Franklin County reported 82 mumps cases as of yesterday afternoon; 65 of those are linked to OSU, and the youngest victim is 4 years old. On Tuesday, the Delaware General Health District advised area residents to take precautions against mumps as health officials there investigated several suspected cases.
Even more frightening is that those who are infected can spread the virus for days before they begin to develop the telltale symptoms: fever, muscle aches, headache and chipmunk cheeks. In rare cases, mumps causes sudden and permanent deafness or leads to sterility.
Up to half of those infected have mild or no symptoms. They can spread the disease unknowingly.
In these days of medical marvels, it's easy to think an old disease such as mumps has been eradicated, but that's not the case. Ohio had an outbreak in 2010, with 18 cases reported in Lake and Cuyahoga counties.
Still, the disease has been made uncommon by widespread vaccination, which began in 1967. Before the vaccine, more than 200,000 people a year got mumps.
The count, as low as 20 sufferers nationwide some years, has at times spread into the low thousands across multiple states. This is a direct result of people who have shrugged off the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination as no longer necessary. Or worse, bought into the ignorant warnings of fearmongers who keep waving long-discredited studies that claim vaccines are dangerous.
Because the vaccine is only 88 percent effective, a good share of the population is still vulnerable.
The best way to protect those people is to make sure that everyone else is vaccinated. It's called "herd immunity," and it makes it difficult for disease-causing germs to gain a foothold and spread.
At least 97 percent of those in the OSU outbreak indeed had been vaccinated. They got sick — really sick — because others in the community didn't take the simple precaution of getting a shot.
The lesson from this outbreak isn't that the vaccines don't work. Had fewer people been vaccinated, mumps would be cutting a far larger swath through central Ohio.
In August, the American College Health Association urged colleges and universities to watch out for mumps and to require proof of vaccination for all students enrolled. This means making sure incoming students got both doses of MMR, usually given after the first birthday and between ages 4 and 6.
This is another burden for schools, but it is the best way to further protect communities and make sure that a student's college experience isn't interrupted by a serious illness.
Ohio State, which doesn't require proof of vaccination, said yesterday it will review its vaccination policy. But it isn't the only college dealing with mumps. Fordham University in New York City, which requires vaccination, also has reported at least 13 suspected cases. Most of those infected live in dormitories, where the close quarters enable the virus to spread on surfaces that were contaminated with germs when someone coughed or sneezed.
The OSU outbreak points out the need for parents to be vigilant in vaccinating their children. Diseases that bedeviled mankind for centuries can, and indeed do, return.