Report: Penn State Confirms Two Students Have Mumps

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (KDKA) -- Two students at Penn State University have the mumps, reports CBS-affiliate WTAJ-TV in Altoona.

According to WTAJ-TV, Penn State Health Services have confirmed that two students on the main campus in University Park have cases of the mumps.

The cases are not currently believed to be related, but both students are being kept in isolation while PSU staff investigates anyone with whom they may have come in contact.

This is the third year in a row that cases of the mumps have been reported at Penn State's main campus, WTAJ-TV says. In 2017, the university investigated 77 mumps cases over less than a 3-month period.

Mumps is a highly infectious disease. Outbreaks commonly occur on college campuses as students are often in close contact with one another, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department.

Symptoms begin 16 days after infection. They include tender, swollen salivary glands; fever; headache and muscle aches.

A person is most contagious between two days before and five days after symptoms emerge, the Health Department says.

If someone is experiencing such symptoms, they should seek immediate medical attention.

Those who have received two doses of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) are largely protected from mumps. However, prolonged or close contact with a case of mumps could result in vaccinated individuals becoming infected, too.

This year, more than 100 cases of mumps have been reported at Temple University.