FAYETTEVILLE -- Vaccination requirements now extend to faculty and staff after a mumps outbreak on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus, according to a letter from the state Department of Health.
The outbreak is "expected to continue into the Spring 2020 semester," states a letter dated Friday addressed to UA faculty and staff.
On Monday, health officials said 35 total cases of mumps tied to the campus have been identified since Sept. 1.
Staff and faculty born in or after 1957 must show documentation by Jan. 10 of two measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations or other proof of immunity, states the letter. Otherwise, they will be excluded from work and campus activities, the letter states. UA announced the new requirements Monday.
Campus employees without vaccination against mumps must "immediately" get a dose of MMR vaccine, the letter says. Those getting a first dose must follow up after 28 days with a second dose. Others without documentation may ask a doctor for a blood test that can show immunity to mumps, in which case vaccination would not be required.
The latest health directive comes after a Nov. 22 letter from the state Health Department mandating that UA students have at least two doses of MMR vaccine or be excluded from class. The public health directive applies even to students with an exemption from vaccination requirements granted under state law.
Similarly, while UA faculty and staff may apply to state health authorities for religious, philosophical or medical exemptions, workers "with exemptions and those who have not provided the required documentation by January 10 will be excluded from work and campus-related activities" until the outbreak ends, the letter states.
"An outbreak is over when two incubation periods for an illness have passed with no new cases. The incubation period for mumps is 26 days," the letter states. The exclusion period for faculty and staff would begin Jan. 13, the start of classes for the spring 2020 semester, according to UA.
UA has about 5,200 employees. Some 600 are old enough to be considered to have immunity, said UA spokesman Mark Rushing, and approximately 1,250 already have documentation of two MMR vaccines because they are recent or current students.
According to information from UA, "only a handful" of mumps cases remain active.
"Unvaccinated people are nine times more likely to get mumps than are people with two doses of MMR vaccine," the letter states.
Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state Health Department's medical director for immunizations and outbreak response, in a phone interview said mumps can affect people of all ages. She referred to an outbreak that hit the state in 2016 and 2017.
"A couple of years ago, we had one of the largest mumps outbreaks in the last 30 years in the U.S. in Northwest Arkansas. We had close to 3,000 cases and that's what we're trying to prevent," Dillaha said.
Mumps can be spread through direct contact with saliva or respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing.
The illness can produce serious complications, but most people recover completely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include fever, headache and swollen glands under the ears or jaw.
On Monday, the state Health Department began offering the vaccine to campus employees at the UA Pat Walker Health Center. Employees received the vaccine at no cost, and state Department of Health staff also verified vaccination records.
"They weren't giving us a lot of time to find these records," Carrie Byron, a UA fiscal support staffer, said after getting a dose of vaccine. Overall, however, she described the process as fast and -- nearly -- painless.
"The needle was very small. She says, 'Are you ready?' I said, 'No.' She says, 'Too bad,'" Byron said. "They have a sense of humor."
Dillaha said the department has records for those immunized while in Arkansas, but no access to records kept by other states. Vaccinations were scheduled to continue today and Wednesday.
Out of the 35 mumps cases, all but two involved individuals known to have had two doses of the MMR vaccine, Dillaha said. She said one of the other two cases involved an individual with "at least" one vaccine dose, while the vaccination history was unclear for the other case. The case total includes mumps confirmed by testing and other cases defined as "probable" because of symptoms and a link to a known case, Dillaha said.
"One thing that gets confusing to people is that you can have two doses [of MMR vaccine] and still get the mumps," Dillaha said.
But the vaccine helps reduce the spread of the disease, she said, with the health directives aimed at boosting the community's overall immunity.
"Many cases of mumps are mild, and some can even be without symptoms, so it can continue to spread," Dillaha said. That "makes it very hard to end an outbreak," Dillaha said. "It keeps circulating, because the immunity in the population is low."
For those vaccinated who get the mumps, past experience shows that "those folks will have a milder disease and fewer of the serious complications," Dillaha said. She added that "it's not harmful to repeat an MMR dose for people who have already been vaccinated."
Rushing on Monday in an email said that if employees still without the required documentation as of Jan. 10 have been granted an exemption for philosophical or other reasons, "the University will look very closely at an employee's job duties to determine whether it would be appropriate for the employee to work from home on an emergency basis until the end of the outbreak.
For others who could not work remotely, "they would be required to take leave, which in some instances might eventually include leave without pay," Rushing said. "We would not anticipate any action beyond that."
"We're in discussions with the university about the best way to handle what accommodations can be made so the education and the goals of the university will continue on as smoothly as possible," Dillaha said.
Metro on 12/17/2019