UPDATED: Monday, Oct. 23, at 9:59 p.m.

Student-athletes and undergraduates at Syracuse University will have the opportunity to receive a booster dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine this week, Onondaga County Health Department and SU officials announced at a press conference Monday.

The announcement comes more than a month after the officials confirmed the university’s first mumps infection. Since the end of August, there have been 27 confirmed and 45 probable mumps cases at SU. All who have contracted the disease have been properly vaccinated.

Student-athletes, who were primarily affected by the outbreak when it began spreading in September, will have the first opportunity to receive the booster shots on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience.

The rest of the undergraduate population can receive an MMR booster shot in Flanagan Gymnasium on Thursday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to a campus-wide email sent Monday afternoon.

The vaccination clinics are primarily for undergraduate students, said Karen Nardella, medical director of the Office of Health Services.

“Other people may come, and we won’t turn them away, but we’re focusing on the undergraduate population,” she said.

Evanovich said there will be more than 4,000 MMR doses available at the clinics. Of that number, New York state provided 1,300 vaccines and SU purchased the rest, Nardella said.

The vaccine will not prevent the mumps from spreading to people who have already been exposed to the disease, said Brad Hutton, deputy commissioner of public health at the New York State Department of Health. He also said he thinks there will be an increase in mumps cases before the outbreak ends.

Though a third dose of the MMR vaccine has been used during other mumps outbreaks in New York state, Hutton said the effects of the third vaccine are unclear. The additional dose of the vaccine has often been distributed when outbreaks have been waning, he added.

“It’s been very challenging to determine whether or not it was the third dose or other control measures that resulted in reduced (mumps) attack rates,” Hutton said.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee will meet this week to discuss whether a third dose of the MMR vaccine can be used to help stop the spread of mumps on college campuses, he said.

Onondaga County Health Commissioner Indu Gupta said a third vaccine is not a substitute for other disease prevention methods. She said people should not share drinks or utensils, and if students are sick, they should stay at home.

In addition to 72 SU community members with confirmed or probable mumps cases, there are two probable cases in Onondaga County outside the campus community — one with a link to SU and one with no known connection to the university, according to the health department.

Students diagnosed with or suspected of contracting the disease are being isolated from the campus community for up to five days.

Some of the students with confirmed or suspected mumps cases are being housed in hotels, including the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center.

The mumps outbreak last month primarily spread among student-athletes, including members of the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. All men’s and women’s lacrosse events this fall have been canceled, and all organized lacrosse activities were canceled for three weeks beginning Oct. 6.

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 23, 2017 at 2:09 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18