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State Confirms Mumps Cases In Saint Anselm Students

CDC/ Dr. F. A. Murphy

  New Hampshire health officials have confirmed several cases of mumps at Saint Anselm College. 

The Department of Health and Human Services says college officials reported last week that several members of its hockey team had symptoms consistent with mumps.

The state says testing came back positive Friday for two members of the college’s hockey team; officials say three other students show symptoms of mumps as well.

Dr. Benjamin Chan, state epidemiologist, says the affected students had been vaccinated against mumps. “It's estimated that two doses of the vaccine, which is the recommended dose for college students, the effectiveness is about 88 percent," Chan says. "But the mumps vaccine does help prevent more serious illness, and it does help prevent the virus infection from spreading.”

Chan says the state is now working with the college to keep the outbreak from spreading. “We have been talking with some of the cases and the people they have come into close contact with, to make sure nobody else is coming down with symptoms, and to ask them to also report to us if they do develop symptoms," Chan says. 

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