Message from Health Services

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

Syracuse University continues its aggressive communications campaign focused on educating the campus community about how to detect and prevent the spread of mumps. As reported yesterday, there are confirmed cases of mumps among our student population.

Following the confirmation of these cases and under the direction of the Office of Health Services, the University immediately activated its strong response protocol. This included isolating the potentially infected students, sanitizing all areas with which the students came in contact and notifying all people who may have interacted with the affected students.

In addition to ensuring you’re up to date on your vaccinations, some other tips for preventing the spread of illness include:

• Cover your mouth/nose with a tissue or your arm when coughing or sneezing.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water.

• Avoid sharing cups, utensils, water bottles, etc.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces like sinks, doorknobs and tables.

Some common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides.

Mumps can be serious, but most people make a full recovery within a few weeks, and most symptoms can be managed with over-the-counter medication. It is important to remember that mumps is a vaccine preventable disease. According to Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta because of high vaccination rates, mumps is no longer very common in the United States. While sporadic cases can still occur among vaccinated individuals and outbreaks have occurred on college campuses across New York State and the U.S., the best way to protect against mumps is to get the MMR shot. Additional information on mumps and immunizations is available on the New York State Health Department’s website.

We are always happy to answer your questions or discuss your concerns. Please call us at 315.443.9005 if you’d like to connect with a member of our team.

Sincerely,

Office of Health Services