SPRINGDALE -- At least 20 cases of mumps have been confirmed or are strongly suspected in Springdale, the Arkansas Department of Health announced Wednesday afternoon.
The cases include eight children who attend either Springdale High School, Lakeside Junior High, Sonora Middle School or Turnbow Elementary, Springdale School District spokesman Rick Schaeffer said in a statement.
The Health Department is requiring students who are exempt from vaccinations to stay home for 26 days after the last case is found to protect them from exposure to the virus. Four students have been sent home for that reason, Schaeffer said.
The department is checking with the people who associate with those who could be infected to make sure they have been vaccinated or are staying isolated to help stop the virus from spreading, said Dr. Gary Wheeler, the agency's chief medical officer.
Still, Wheeler said, a few dozen more cases could be found in the next few weeks.
"It is expected that these cases will sort of percolate along for a while because the virus has such a long incubation period," Wheeler said, referring to the period of up to four weeks or so between infection and the first symptoms. "We've now alerted everyone in the world to look for mumps, so we're going to probably see an increased number of cases."
The mumps virus is spread by saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose and throat, including through droplets in the air from coughing or sneezing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It often causes fever, headaches and body pains, swollen glands and other symptoms, and can sometimes lead to more serious complications, particularly in adults.
The vaccine introduces the virus to the body in a low enough dose for the immune system to become familiar with it and fight it off, preparing the immune system for full-strength exposure in the future. The vaccine can prevent the disease 88 percent of the time after two doses, according to the centers. The vaccine helped drive mumps from almost 200,000 documented cases in the United States each year before it was developed to fewer than 2,000 per year in recent years.
People who haven't been vaccinated or who fall within the 12 percent effectiveness gap can provide the means for mumps to hit an area. The department has confirmed five people's immunization status, and of those five, four were immunized, Wheeler said.
The department is urging people to get vaccinated, and students with vaccine exemptions can return to school as soon as they've gotten it.
Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers' school districts have seen no mumps cases, officials said Wednesday afternoon. Arkansas allows parents to exempt their children from vaccination requirements for medical reasons or if they oppose vaccinations for religious or other reasons.
Benton and Washington counties were home to more than 1,700 exempted students this school year, according to the Department of Health. That's up 17 percent from last school year and roughly five times as many as in Pulaski County, the state's most populated county.
Springdale's eight students with the virus were found after they went to the school nurse, Schaeffer said.
Mercy Northwest Arkansas has treated five "presumptive" mumps cases and is keeping in close contact with the Health Department, said spokesman Jennifer Cook. Washington Regional Medical Center has alerted all of its clinics to be on the lookout, said Dr. James Newton, the center's infectious disease specialist.
Information for this article was contributed by Dave Perozek of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 09/01/2016