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

[sister1]

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?

My son has been home with mumps this week and returned today - his first symptoms were on Monday. He had a MMR booster in September.

They need to booster for MMR at around 11/teen years, but they won't.

I had the mumps when at uni aged 21 despite being fully vaccinated as a child. I realised something was off when having breakfast one morning and my jaw was so stiff it hurt to chew. The mirror confirmed a serious swelling so off to the GP I went. I was signed off for either 1 or 2 weeks. It's rubbish.

I was advised to let especially male friends know to give them the option to go and get a vaccination, as it can cause reproductive issues in men.

Hope your DD gets well soon.

I was fully vaccinated as a child. Separates because I'm just a little too old for the MMR. I had mumps and rubella as a young child and then measles in 6th form.

Immunity from vaccines isn't perfect but a vaccinated population drastically reduces disease.

Hope your daughter is ok OP and able to get back to her studies soon. If she does the reading I'm sure lecturers will be happy to support her via email or in office hours when she's back at uni. For stuff missed due to mumps not strikes that is.

Advice where I live in the US is that students should have their immunities checked & any boosters administered before going away to Uni or anywhere they'll be living in close quarters with others. They also recommend it for women who intend to become pregnant and for grandparents-to-be.

I guess the 'common wisdom' is that if you've actually had the disease, you have lifelong immunity. But that if you were vaccinated, your immunity may 'wear off'. There was no vaccine for Rubella when I was a child, so I had the disease and am still immune. My cousin (6 years younger) was vaccinated against it as a child and her immunity 'wore off'. She had a booster before TTC.

There is increasing concern that immunity from vaccines wanes more sharply than originally thought and that a teenage / pre university booster is required to maintain immunity.

Before 1988 there was no vaccination against Mumps. In 1996, it was deemed necessary to have a preschool booster for which the uptake is lower.

There have been periodic outbreaks of Mumps in university populations since then. The mumps component of the vaccine is the least effective and there is increasing evidence that it also wanes more quickly.

Meant to also add.. up until 2000, uptake was high, the dropped off until 2004 and then rose again. It is unclear, despite media coverage, that is it is the drop between 2000 and 2004 is what is causing the university cases as pre 1996 there was lower effectiveness and pre 1998 there were no vaccines.

We are still developing understanding of what the long term effectiveness of these 'recently' introduced vaccines are.

Before 1988 there was no vaccination against Mumps

There was. It just wasn't in common usage in the UK until 1988.

The Jeryl-Lynn Mumps vaccine was approved for use in the US in 1967. The combined MMR was licensed for use in 1971, with the 2nd dose coming in to usage in 1989.

There were actually earlier vaccines, the first in 1948, but they were short lasting and ineffective.

Interesting to see the dates the MMR came into use in the UK.

I remember when my 21 year old was due her first MMR there were reports about it on the news and in the newspapers (no regular mobiles then) but my two older children born 1996 and 1992 had already had their vaccinations.

This was normal practice as the Health Visitors from doctors surgeries used to send out letters/reminders to parents.

My DS had mumps in autumn last year and had to come home from uni for 10 days. He was also fully up to date with vaccinations. There had been several cases already amongst the students. He was lucky and managed to get through it feeling just a bit under the weather and tired. Could have been worse.

Let's not forget - diseases mutate. It's how they survive. Maybe the strain your daughter caught had a slight mutation that rendered whatever vaccination your daughter and hopefully her classmates had ineffective. Yes it's frustrating, but encourage her to rest and recuperate as this will get get back in fighting form as fast as possible. And there's nothing to stop her reaching out to her tutors / classmates by email and asking for notes so she can study while she's at home. Wishing her a speedy recovery

A friends BIL got mumps from his son when he came home from Uni. Ended up in hospital for a week and is now deaf in one ear and still suffering after effects.
We've forgotten how nasty it can be, especially for men.

My DD had mumps last year whilst at uni. She'd had the vaccinations. She got it a few days before her exams started and had to miss one. They wouldn't even let her take the exam in isolation as they said someone would have to be there and they would be at risk. Hope your DD is okay OP.

Thanks for all the messages and hope your DD is ok Yourownpersonaljesus. Daughter is now fully recovered and has been given a bit of an extension for her studies/exams but when she went back to uni after her mumps she has not physically been in a lecture because of the coronavirus so it's all gone a bit pearshaped.

I've got a lot going on myself as a carer for her nan and sometimes feel torn but she seems to keep on top of everything.

Big outbreak last year in midlands Universities, Nottingham etc.

I had all my MMR vaccines ( had to be doubled checked as did a health care degree) turns out when doing my blood tests for pregnancy I'm susceptible to German measles for some reason it didn't work for the measles bit and will need another after pregnancy so it does happen