Vitals Spotlight - We Give the Doctor an Exam

I get it. Scientists last week published in a medical journal the retraction of an infamous 1998 study that had linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism. Here’s what I don’t get. My own son had the vaccine, so why on earth did he wake up with the mumps this morning?  Now for the rest of the story.

Saturday night, my 15 year old son finished shoveling the few inches of snow on the sidewalk. He comes in and says “Dad my jaw is hurting on the right side”. A little later he says he thinks he has fever and he has the pink eye look. I first thought that this is strep throat or pink eye but his throat wasn’t hurting and pink eye couldn’t explain his high fever.  After much interrogation, finally my son perks up and says that he had sat next to a classmate who was rumored to have mumps. I look at my son and I said to him “I don’t see any mumps on you.”

Since I really wasn’t sure what were the symptoms of mumps, I Googled the word mumps. The first result was a Google Health page with everything one could possibly want to know about mumps.

Swollen Jaw - Mumps Symptom

The Overview: Mumps is a contagious disease that leads to painful swelling of the salivary glands. The salivary glands produce saliva, a liquid that moistens food and helps you chew and swallow.

Now lets review the symptoms:

• Face pain - he’s got that
• Fever - he’s got that
• Headache - he’s got that
• Sore throat - not really
• Swelling of the parotid glands - not sure about this, but his ear is bothering him a bit.
• Swelling of the temples or jaw  - he’s got that. OMG - we realize how swollen it is,  this was the clincher.

So, I can assume that some level of government knows about the resurgence of mumps on kids and adults who already were vaccinated. Where is the outcry of the CDC? Code red, orange or any other color?

Mumps in the news this past week:

BostonHerald.com - “Hopefully this will put to rest the notion that the MMR vaccine is causing autism,” said Dr. Ann Neumeyer, medical director of the Lurie Family Autism Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “There is no medical evidence that shows vaccines cause autism.”

Lohud.com - Dr. Corinna Manini, a family practitioner and medical director of Refuah, a state-funded health clinic in Rockland County, said doctors are continuing to diagnose more cases of mumps. We can’t tell yet if it’s leveling off,” she said. The clinic is stressing the importance of proper vaccination to protect against the disease, she said. Many people seeking treatment at Refuah have been vaccinated against mumps, she said. The vaccines are thought to be 85 percent effective during an outbreak.