UPDATED: Oct. 11, 2017 at 5:04 p.m.

There are 13 confirmed and five probable cases of the mumps disease infecting Syracuse University students, SU and Onondaga County Health Department officials said in a press conference Wednesday.

Students diagnosed or suspected of contracting the disease have been isolated from campus, some in hotels, an SU official said.

An additional five students who have not submitted vaccination records are being “excluded” from campus for at least 25 days, said Karen Nardella, medical director of health services.

In a campus-wide email sent earlier this week, Nardella said 14 students had contracted the mumps. The county’s medical director, Quoc Nguyen, backtracked on Nardella’s statement, saying that was a misinterpretation of facts.

“We will work from now on to have a real, arrived-at number that is precise,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen added he and Nardella agreed there were 13 confirmed mumps cases as of Tuesday.

All infected students had been fully vaccinated, Nardella said.

“Cases are primarily confined to the student athletes, especially the lacrosse teams,” said Indu Gupta, Onondaga County Health Commissioner. Men’s and women’s lacrosse practices and scrimmages have been canceled for “a minimum of three weeks,” SU announced on Oct. 6.

Nardella said, though, the outbreak was not limited to lacrosse players. She declined to specify the number of infected students that were athletes.

The university is not considering shutting down classes, said Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and student experience.

Students diagnosed with the mumps or suspected of contracting the disease were isolated from students on campus for five days, some in hotels, Nardella said.

“We are taking immediate action instead of waiting for confirmatory testing,” an SU News release, credited only to “news staff,” stated Wednesday afternoon. Students that exhibit mumps symptoms are immediately isolated, the release stated.

The Onondaga County Health Department also ordered five students who had not submitted vaccination records, either for medical or religious reasons, to be excluded from campus beginning Oct. 2.

“The main goal of this action from the health department point-of-view was to protect these students who do not have any protection against mumps,” Gupta said.

Nardella said the students lacking immunization records are excluded from campus for at least 25 days after each new mumps case is confirmed.

If a new mumps case is reported, the 25-day exclusion period starts over, she said.

Evanovich said the university is working with professors of the five excluded students to make academic accommodations.

Some students are doing work online, he added.

The first mumps case was reported at the end of August, Gupta said. The second case was confirmed in the third week of September.

The health services office notified some students of the initial mumps case in an email sent Sept. 5.

The students who received that email included those who “may have attended classes, lived in the same residence or residence hall, or come into close contact” with the infected student.

Nardella notified the rest of the campus community of the outbreak in a campus-wide email sent on Sept. 21, when the university confirmed a second student had contracted the mumps.

Evanovich said the Sept. 5 email was an early, targeted communication sent out of “an abundance of care.”

After the university confirmed the second mumps case, Evanovich said the Onondaga County Health Department advised SU to be “more proactive and reach out further to larger populations.”

Symptoms of mumps include fever, muscle aches, puffy cheeks or neck and a swollen jaw. The airborne disease can be transmitted when an infected person coughs, sneezes or touches objects such as doorknobs or handrails.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Published on October 11, 2017 at 2:54 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18