The Texas Department of State Health Services warned this week of multiple ongoing mumps outbreaks. The surge, which includes 221 cases this year, constitutes the highest incidence of mumps in the state in 22 years. Mumps is a contagious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person through saliva and mucus.
“What we’ve seen — as in other parts of the country, (it’s) really just the same thing — a pretty big resurgence in mumps cases over the last six or eight months,” said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the state’s health services department. In 2016, Texas experienced 192 mumps cases, he said, primarily in the last few months of the year. READ MORE
