12A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2006
HEALTH
Mumps outbreak continues throughout summer
BY ANNA FALTERMEIER
Although University of Kansas students went home for the summer, the mumps stuck around.
"We were hoping it would fizzle away during the summer, but that didn't happen," said Patricia Denning, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
Mumps is an acute viral illness that causes cold-like symptoms and swollen salivary glands, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department said Lawrence was still experiencing a mumps outbreak. An outbreak is no longer considered an outbreak after
50 days pass without any new cases.
Fifty cases were diagnosed in June, July and August in Douglas County; 22 of those were KU students.
This brings the total number of mumps cases in Douglas County for this outbreak to 311, of those, 244 were KU students. The Kansas state total is 844.
This is the biggest outbreak of mumps in Kansas since the 1980 to 1989 outbreak. In that six-month outbreak, 269 mumps cases were diagnosed in Douglas County Barbara Schnittker, director of nurses at the health department, said.
During '88 outbreak, the majority of mumps cases were children of elementary through high-school age. But the majority of cases in the current outbreak are people between the
ages of 18 to 26, Schnitker said.
She said there were several theories as to why different age groups were affected. The generally accepted theory is that the virus was introduced into close social networks where it was able to spread easily.
Denning said that mumps could experience a resurgence as students came back this fall, but it was hard to anticipate how many cases would occur.
"People still need to be aware and alert for any signs or symptoms," said Robert Brown, staff physician at Watkins.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite followed by swelling of the parotid salivary glands, which are located within the cheek.
near the jaw line and below the ears,
according to the CDC.
To avoid the mumps, Denning recommends covering your nose and mouth with tissue, washing your hands often and not drinking or eating after anyone.
According to the CDC, complications with the mumps are rare but can include inflammation of the brain, the tissue surrounding the brain and spinal chord and the testes or ovaries, spontaneous abortion and permanent deafness.
"Very rarely are there serious complications with the mumps," Denning said. "This is a disease that's primarily a nuisance."
An isolation period of nine days is recommended to prevent the spread of the mumps. Schnitter said
although that period was important to stop the spread of mumps, it probably wasn't consistently followed.
All KU students are required to be immunized before coming to college, but the vaccine is only 90 to 95 percent effective, according to the health department. The department also said there was a possibility the vaccine could wear off.
Schnitker said mumps was typically a winter and spring illness, so she hoped that it would wear itself out.
Kansan staff writer Anna Faltermeier can be contacted at afaltermeier@kansan.com
Edited by Nicole Kelley
details.
Here are the number of mumps cases as of Friday afternoon. These numbers include probable and confirmed cases.
>Total cases in Douglas County: 311
>Total cases among KU students: 244
Sources: Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department and Watkins Memorial Health Center.
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BY MARK VIERTHALER
K-State ranked ahead of KU in magazine study
The University of Kansas and Kansas State University have one more reason to continue their rivalry.
The September issue of Washington Monthly released the magazine's first ranking of socially responsible national schools. The University ranked 138 out of 225, placing it behind K-State, ranked at 113.
"Most schools are focused on tuition dollars," Frank said. "As tax payers and grant givers, we're trying to put a different kind of pressure on the schools."
T. A. Frank, Washington Monthly consulting editor, said the magazine felt it needed to create a more socially responsible list than US News.
He said schools that are actively making new, socially relevant discoveries were the highest rated. Washington Monthly used three equally weighted criteria, Frank said.
The first crite bility. Frank said social mobility was the school's ability to recruit and maintain enrollment with low-income students. The study looked at how many students received PELL Grants and how many of these students actually graduated.
awarded overall.
The third criterion - service
- rates Peace Corps enrollment and
    BOX 1. enroll
"Most schools are focused on tuition dollars. As tax payers and grant givers, we're trying to put a different kind of pressure on the schools."
at the number of dollars given in grants, how many students with bachelor's degrees came back for Ph.D.s and how many Ph.D.s were
T. A. Frank Washington Monthly consulting editor
ment.
social mobility.
The University ranked 74 with research and 43 on service, based largely on Peace Corps membership.
Frank said the University ranked above K-State on each front except social mobility. With a 57 percent graduation rate of low-income students, a national ranking of 153 put a drag on the University's score. K-State ranked at 27 in
Frank said the study was important for people to see their schools through a prism of social responsibility and not just academic achievement.
Richard Lariviere, University of Kansas provost, dismissed the study as unimportant.
"The proliferation of imitations of the US News rankings are of less and less interest," Lariviere said. "These magazine issues have become the equivalent of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue: big sellers, but of merely prudent interest."
Lariviere declined to comment on specifics of the study.
Kansan staff writer Mark Vierthaler can be contacted at mvierthaler@kansan.com.
Edited By Nicole Kelley
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