TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Department of Health has announced an increase in the amount of Mumps cases in Florida.
According to the Department of Health, there were three reported probable cases of mumps in the state in November. A fourth case was confirmed.
“In Florida, the number of reported mumps cases has remained relatively low over the past five years but started to increase in 2015 with ten cases and in 2016 with 16 cases,” the agency posted on its website. “The last time the number of reported cases reached 2017 levels was in the 1990s.”
Since January, the Department says 17 confirmed cases and 37 probable cases have been reported statewide.
The department said vaccination is the best way to prevent the disease, which is caused by a virus. Mumps starts with a fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swelling of the salivary glands.
“Although individuals who have been vaccinated can still get mumps, vaccination remains the best way to prevent mumps and severe complications,” said the department’s deputy press secretary Brad Dalton. “In general, those who have received at least one mumps vaccination even if they later develop disease have less severe outcomes than those who have never been vaccinated.
Individuals should be vaccinated with the MMR, or mumps, measles, rubella combination vaccine.
“There has been more than 99% decrease in mumps cases in the US since the pre-vaccine era,” the department said.
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