and a Health Alert especially for local
college students and their parents there
are 12 confirmed cases of mumps in
Alachua County all our college students
who had have been previously vaccinated
this is one of them Kalyan Herren just
graduated from UF look at your screen
and see the difference there of what
happened to her she just started as
active duty with the army you can see
what the mumps has done to her face
we spoke with her about her symptoms
extremely painful like the face just
really and I got one point like I
couldn't even touch like my ear like my
ear hurt so bad
and then eventually it came to the other
side of the face I have to sleep sitting
up because like I also heard on my sides
so I would kind of sleep sitting up
definitely looks unenjoyable here to
discuss the mom says local pediatrician
dr. Ravi rahaga so that is so dramatic
to see that face difference what exactly
is the mumps I never pictured it as
looking like that so it's basically a
virus that can cause symptoms like fever
headache and body ache but then it gets
into the saliva glands that over there
and that's what causes all the swelling
and makes people look like Chipmunks
says that's what most people associate
it with so of course doctors are warning
people do not share drinks utensils so
is it spread through saliva or touch
it's actually spread through saliva and
also through coughing sneeze somebody
you know you really want to be careful
about people not being around people if
you have the mumps and coughing and
sneezing but mostly about sharing out
the fluids obviously we saw the swollen
face but what are some of the symptoms
so the symptoms are you going and start
you could start with a headache
a fever body aches decrease in appetite
really nonspecific symptoms so the
really only thing that really tells you
is when you have the swelling of the
face it takes almost two weeks from when
you get infected to start having
symptoms though and so it takes a little
while and then you're thinking you could
be infecting all those people for weeks
and not even know well you're mostly
contagious a day or two before the
swelling and about five days after so
really when the swelling starts is the
most contagious time
that's scary so it is I think it's very
interesting with this story that all of
these students were vaccinated so talk
about how that happened
so I guess no vaccine is perfect so when
you get your vaccines as a kid most
kindergarteners and all they get that
they're about 90 percent covered and
then when they go to college they get
another vaccine but so it decreases
severity because some of the bad things
that can happen with this which people
don't really are not aware is you can
actually get meningitis or swelling of
the brain and actually a permanent
damage you can have hearing loss so
there's some serious consequences when
you get the vaccine you tend to be less
severe so it's about ten times less
severe so it does protect you but not a
hundred percent all the time so in this
case students in Alachua County probably
need to go and get a booster shot even
if they've already been vaccinated
before they start college right if they
were vaccinated as kids are right before
college they don't need it but but if
but what they really need to avoid is
sharing fluids and watching out they
live in crowded spaces and someone has
the mumps they have to be really careful
and not have contact with them yeah is
there a is there a time span that it
kind of covers like for instance I had
the vaccine ten years ago am I still
good like how long does it so that's why
they're not getting right so that's why
they're giving all the college age kids
a booster because they're at risk so I'm
not sure exactly the timeframe but
generally it will last for a while but
then at college you want to get a
booster and this is one of those
vaccines that parents can say no I don't
want a vaccine my kids right and
unfortunately parents always have the
right but now we've seen the measles
we've seen the mumps rubella we were
actually is is dangerous to pregnant
women so there's really no reason not to
get vaccinated and if you're worried
about you know all the things that
people have talked about you can even
get vaccinated later so even as a young
adult you could get the vaccine 30 days
apart it's effective so just because you
didn't get as a kid doesn't mean don't
get it right now as an adult really good
point
like delayed vaccinations like if you're
worried about it you can get it at some
point exactly and a lot of 18 year-olds
are actually choosing to get vaccinated
after they can make their own decisions
and it's a smart choice yeah especially
I mean being in that college atmosphere
and you're in the cafeteria you're in
the same classroom eternities sororities
athletic facilities anywhere you're in
close contact that's really where you
end up with these kind of things makes
sense well thank you so much for coming
to
going giving us some perspective the
University of Florida is emailing advice
to students so if your child attends
make sure they're checking their inbox
we also have posted advice on news for
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