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Original poster

Daughter sent home from university with Mumps even though she had the MMR

41 replies

sister1 · 01/03/2020 00:19

My 21 year old daughter phoned me last Thursday to say she had been to the doctor as feeling unwell and her cheek hurting and swollen. She is at university and the doctor said there had been quite a lot of cases of Mumps amongst the students and took blood etc. and advised her to come home for recuperation to stop infecting others etc.

My daughter is really peeved off. Not just for having to go through the pain and stuff but for missing her studies (she's got a few more months to graduate) and a lot of her tutors are on strike to top it all.

Even though I made sure she had all the MMR vaccinations as a baby/toddler/child she has still contracted Mumps?

Apparently there are so many unvaccinated 20/21 year olds for the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) that it is creating a come back for these diseases.

Can anyone help if they have had their college/university age adult children had Mumps and how long will it be until they can go back and mingle with their peers?

OP posts:
Torvean · 01/03/2020 00:49

NHS guidelines are

stay away from school, college or work until 5 days after you first developed symptoms.

I got mumps a couple of years after uni. I was too old to have had mmr. However we are going to see more of this as we lose herd protection as parents are not vaccinating.

Remember for those considering skipping MMR that "Dr"Andrew Wakefield was eorking gor a measles vaccination drug company when he made his claims. And he got struck off and is no longer a doctor.

GordonBennett20 · 01/03/2020 00:53

I had mumps when I was 18, about a decade ago. I had to sit my A level exams in isolation along with the dozens of other students that had caught it.

I'd also had the MMR.

Advice at the time was to isolate for 10 days but as per the above comment it's obviously changed the recommendation since

mrsm12 · 01/03/2020 00:54

My friend got mumps a few years ago despite being vaccinated and having a top up booster in the past, maybe your daughter just doesn't have enough immunity to it,

EllieBellend · 01/03/2020 01:12

DS has mumps too, also at uni. Doctor said he was the 4th or 5th that day. Had both the MMRs too. There seems to be an epidemic at the moment among universities.

RainydaysandMondaysalways · 01/03/2020 01:20

Why do people say the unvaccinated children are responsible for the mumps outbreaks when the vaccinated children are just as susceptible in the cases mentioned on this thread?

HorseOutside · 01/03/2020 01:21

Mumps seems to be rife in Irish universities too. I've heard of a good few cases recently.

amazedmummy · 01/03/2020 01:30

@RainydaysandMondaysalways people who have been vaccinated are much much less likely to contract and therefore spread the illness.

purplecorkheart · 01/03/2020 01:35

Massive outbreak of Mumps in Universities in Ireland. I know of at least five people personally who were vaccinated and have heard of many more. Honestly wondering was there a massive ineffective batch of vaccines at some stagw

dottyrobin · 01/03/2020 01:40

I had the mumps 10 years ago at university despite having the MMR. I did hear if you have been vaccinated the symptoms are not as bad but I remember it being very horrible so who knows.

sashh · 01/03/2020 02:24

Why do people say the unvaccinated children are responsible for the mumps outbreaks when the vaccinated children are just as susceptible in the cases mentioned on this thread?

Because they are the reason we no longer have herd immunity and why the diseases are making a come back. The OP's dd caught it from someone. I can see pre uni boosters becoming a thing for childhood diseases.

If everyone who could get the vaccine did then these diseases could be wiped out.

OP

Nothing to add but a virtual hug for your dd, I was about 5 when I had it and I remember it now (no vaccine then).

AintNobodyHereButUsKittens · 01/03/2020 03:27

Mumps is the least effective element of the MMR - the CDC says 88% after 2 doses, which is probably just enough to prevent outbreaks if absolutely everyone who can get it does.

But when you add the 12% for whom it’s ineffective to a chunk of the population who don’t have it, or only have one dose (only 78% effective) then that’s enough of a gap that you can get mini outbreaks.

WoofAndWhiskers · 01/03/2020 06:17

It is definitely happening because a whole ton of people in that age groups were not vaccinated by their *%$ parents. As posters have said, the mumps vaccine isn't very good at creating immunity - that's why you need a booster - so the people who didn't develop immunity the first time have another opportunity to develop immunity. Herd immunity (the fact there isn't much mumps around as most people are vaccinated) then protects the ones whose mmr didn't give them immunity. A pre uni booster sounds a very good idea!

I know someone who caught it in January this year. They were at home for a week, back in lectures after 2 weeks.

CatteStreet · 01/03/2020 08:52

What AintNobodyHere said. My eldest only developed marginal immunity after one MMR. I'll be getting a booster for my dc in their last year of school, I think.

FTMF30 · 01/03/2020 09:00

Getting the vaccination does not GUARANTEE protection. There's no use being annoyed just because she'd been vaccinated.

Sipperskipper · 01/03/2020 09:02

I had mumps at about the same age - I wasn’t at uni, but a lot of friends were back from uni for the Christmas break. I think I was back to normal within a couple of weeks (I was vaccinated too).

whatalemon · 01/03/2020 09:09

They seem to be looking into a booster MMR for teenagers as the immunity has been shown to wane (and this is also what we're seeing more of now in US and here) - so whether you got the vaccinations or not as a child you probably don't have much immunity left by the time you're off to uni unfortunately

cptartapp · 01/03/2020 09:13

The mumps component of the vaccine isn't as long lasting as previously thought, so young adults are particularly vulnerable, even if they've had two doses MMR. There wasn't the same legislation and safeguarding around the single vaccines either, i.e., maintaining the cold chain, so there is some question mark about their effectiveness too in those whose parents opted out of the MMR.
Public health is considering introducing a second booster into the schedule.

Fannia · 01/03/2020 09:19

I don't like the term 'herd' immunity. Is a large group of people a herd? Can't we have something a bit more imaginative like a 'murder' of crows.

GodwinsRulebook · 01/03/2020 09:22

Even though I made sure she had all the MMR vaccinations as a baby/toddler/child she has still contracted Mumps

Oh really - sorry, but ffs? Mumps is a notifiable disease at universities. There is a greater danger for tis current cohort because of that awful fake science about MMR "causing" autism.

Would you and your DD prefer she stayed at university possibly infecting others? It's a fairly serious disease past childhood and particularly so for young men.

I am of the generation before these really effective vaccines and I knew of several young men who had fertility problems because of mumps caught past childhood.

But really - you and your DD are being quite unreasonable to object to the university taking absolutely proper precautions for the health of your DD and her peers.

I can imagine the outcry if we didn't send students home - "Universities colluding in making my DC seriously ill!"

GodwinsRulebook · 01/03/2020 09:28

However we are going to see more of this as we lose herd protection as parents are not vaccinating

This. It makes me very annoyed. Because it's a massive pain for everyone - the students and staff - we have to ensure that they're not disadvantaged by the illness, give extra help and time so that they can catch up, ensure that we notify other students, ensure that we deal with mitigation fairly & transparently you would not believe the number of other students who try to police us academic staff about giving "extra" to ill students record the absences/presences clearly & fairly, and so on ...

We don't send students home for fun ... (can you tell I have a mumps outbreak to deal with ...?) It's worse than I've seen it in 20 years.

Cuddling57 · 01/03/2020 09:33

This was on sky news a couple of weeks back.
I think they said the mumps part of the vaccine doesn't last forever in everyone and the generation that was low on mmr uptake are now at uni spreading it as well!
Hope she feels better soon.

dementedma · 01/03/2020 09:40

Not just students. The chairman of our board who is in his mid 50s has just got it and his GP said it was the 7th case she had seen that week. I'm more worried about mumps than corona virus to be honest

Original poster
sister1 · 01/03/2020 18:30

Thanks for the advice and well wishers.

Sorry if people thought I was annoyed about her having to come home - of course I'm not. She understands herself the consequences and wouldn't want to infect her housemates and students at the uni. It's just not a good time for people to be getting these diseases (if ever there is a good time).

I now know that the MMR vaccine (or the mumps part) is only 95% effective and 5% of vaccinated people can still catch the disease.

Maybe there should be more information about boosters being given in the teenage years?

OP posts:
Whichonewhichone · 01/03/2020 18:34

If a mother had mumps as a child woukd she pass immunity to her child when bf for the duration of feeding ?
Myds had a horrible reaction after his first mmr so I can’t do the booster but he’s still bf (2) if I continue longer will it help by giving him antibodies ?

VirtualHamster · 01/03/2020 18:39

I actually wonder if outbreaks are becoming more common not because people failed to get the MMR but because the current generation had it as babies and the immunity is wearing off just as they hit university age.

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