Health Officials Prepare for Back-to-School Mumps Outbreak

B.C.'s top health officer says health-care workers are ready if the number of cases of mumps jumps dramatically once school resumes next month.

Since February, nearly 200 people in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver have been infected with the normally rare virus. The outbreak has been traced back to a Fraser Valley religious group that opposes the mumps vaccination.

Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s provincial health officer, said a task force of health-care specialists and front-line nurses is being assembled to come up with recommendations on how to control the outbreak.

"I'm not worried about us being caught flat-footed," said Kendall. "If we see mumps spreading beyond the current boundaries, there will be more pressure to make some rapid decisions."

Kendall said if the outbreak continues to spread, it will likely hit teenagers aged 14 to 18.

Since 1995, children in B.C. have received a mumps vaccine at 12 months of age and 18 months, said Kendall.

But most children who are older than 14 have only gotten one dose of the vaccine, meaning they are at an 80 per cent level of protection, versus 95 per cent protection for those with a second dose.

"What we saw in Chilliwack was kids in middle and upper schools … many of whom had one dose. Giving them a second dose in an outbreak situation gave them an extra level of protection," said Kendall.

The province can get an immunization team together very quickly and once administered, the vaccine takes a few days to work, Kendall said.