Health
As New Jersey investigates mumps outbreak, experts share what to know about symptoms, protection
The New Jersey Department of Health is investigating a suspected cluster of mumps cases in Hunterdon County among eight family members who traveled internationally, according to a recent press release.
No additional information was provided due to privacy concerns, the release indicated.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported at least 50 cases of mumps from over 20 states this year.
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Health officials say that vaccination is the most effective protection.
“The best way to keep you and your loved ones safe is to get the MMR shot,” said Dr. Kaitlan Baston, the acting health commissioner, per the release.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported at least 50 cases of mumps from over 20 states this year. (iStock)
“These viruses are incredibly contagious, so if you suspect you may have measles, mumps or rubella, it is important to call ahead before visiting any health care provider or facility so they can take special precautions,” she added.
What is mumps?
Mumps is an infectious disease caused by a virus.
It’s spread by direct contact with saliva, such as kissing or sharing water bottles with someone who has mumps.
It can also spread by respiratory droplets from the mouth, nose or throat from an infected person who is talking, coughing or sneezing, according to the CDC.
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Outbreaks often occur in settings where there is frequent close contact, such as on college campuses or in large gatherings.
“Mumps itself typically causes swelling of the glands in the head and neck that make saliva — most often the parotid glands, which are the largest salivary glands that sit just in front of the ears,” Dr. Mike Smith, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, told Fox News Digital.
Symptoms of mumps
Someone who is infected with mumps can spread the infection several days before the parotid glands start to swell and up to five days after, the CDC stated.
Some people may not develop any symptoms; but for those who become symptomatic, they generally start to feel sick anywhere from 12 to 25 days after infection.
Mumps typically causes swelling of the glands in the head and neck, said an infectious diseases expert. (iStock)
Typical symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue and loss of appetite.
Most people get better on their own within two weeks.
In rare cases, especially in adults, swelling may occur in other parts of the body.
The most common complication of mumps in males is inflammation and swelling of the testicles, or orchitis, which occurs in about a third of unvaccinated men, Smith said.
Why is mumps making a comeback?
Reported cases of the mumps fell by more than 99% after the MMR vaccine was introduced in the U.S., the CDC noted.
Outbreaks and cases have been increasing since 2006, however — with most diagnoses occurring in young adults and previously vaccinated individuals, the agency adds.
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“There is no individual vaccine against mumps, but it is part of the MMR vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella,” Smith said.
It is recommended that children get two doses, starting with the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and a second dose between 4 and 6 years of age, according to the CDC’s website.
Adults who are not immune are advised to get at least one dose of the MMR vaccine.
Outbreaks and cases of mumps have been increasing since 2006, per the CDC. (iStock)
“Mumps immunization rates unfortunately are not where they should be,” Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital.
Only about 90% of children are fully vaccinated for mumps by 24 months of age, according to the CDC.
If people receive the standard recommendation of two mumps vaccinations as a child, there still is a chance that immunity will wane and they will get mumps if exposed later in life, according to Glatt.
“As such, we actually recommend that a third dose be given to people in an outbreak setting,” he said.
Differences between measles and mumps
Measles and mumps are caused by different viruses that belong to the same family of viruses called Paramyxoviridae, which are known to spread disease by respiratory droplets, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“Worldwide, both measles and mumps are very significant problems, with over 100,000 deaths due to measles in the previous year,” Glatt said.
There is no individual vaccine against mumps, but it is part of the MMR vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. (iStock)
The MMR vaccine protects against both viral infections, but measles is more contagious than mumps, with the highest mortality rate among the three infections that it protects against, Smith added.
“Measles is a far more serious illness than mumps, and is also making a resurgence in the U.S. after we thought we had eradicated it in 2002,” Glatt noted.
Common complications of measles include diarrhea and ear infections, but severe cases can include brain swelling (encephalitis) and pneumonia.
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The CDC estimates that up to 90% of people who are exposed to someone with measles will get infected if they are not already immune.
Among the current measles outbreaks in the U.S., almost all cases have involved unvaccinated individuals, according to Smith.
Many young people who get infected with mumps, however, have received vaccinations.
Typical symptoms of mumps include fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue and loss of appetite. (iStock)
A 2021 CDC report that reviewed cases of mumps from 2007 to 2019 in children and adolescents found that approximately 94% of people who contracted mumps were previously vaccinated.
The two infections also have different symptoms.
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People infected with measles usually develop their first symptoms within seven to 14 days after getting exposed, while people who get mumps usually experience illness around two weeks after infection.
The most classic sign of measles is cold symptoms followed by a red rash that starts on the face and moves downward.
With mumps, a telltale sign is puffiness of one or both cheeks, which occurs after non-specific symptoms.
Most people with mumps and measles get better within one to two weeks.
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Eating too much salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but new research suggests it could trick the immune system into prematurely aging the blood vessels.
A preclinical study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has identified a biological chain reaction that links a salty diet to cardiovascular decay.
Scientists at the University of South Alabama observed that mice on a high-salt diet experienced rapid deterioration in their blood vessel function.
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After just four weeks of high sodium intake, the small arteries responsible for regulating blood flow lost their ability to relax, according to a press release.
The team found that the cells lining these vessels had entered a state of cellular senescence, a form of premature cellular aging in which cells stop dividing and release a mix of inflammatory signals that can damage surrounding tissue.
Excess salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but a new study goes deeper into its effects on the cardiovascular system. (iStock)
The researchers tried to replicate this damage by exposing blood vessel cells directly to salt in a laboratory dish, but the cells showed no harmful effects.
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This suggests that salt isn’t directly causing damage to the vascular lining but that the real culprit may be the body’s own defense mechanism, the researchers noted.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16 (IL-16), which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16, which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study. (iStock)
Once these cells age, they fail to produce nitric oxide, the essential gas that tells arteries to dilate and stay flexible.
To test whether this process could be reversed, the team turned to a class of experimental drugs known as senolytics.
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Using a cancer medication called navitoclax, which selectively clears out aged and dysfunctional cells, the researchers were able to restore nearly normal blood vessel function in the salt-fed mice, the release stated.
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By removing the decaying cells created by the high-salt diet, the drug allowed the remaining healthy tissue to maintain its elasticity and respond correctly to blood flow demands.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system into stopping the cells from dividing, the study suggests. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. The transition from mouse models to human treatment remains a significant hurdle, the team cautioned.
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Senolytic drugs like navitoclax are still being studied for safety, and the team emphasized that previous trials have shown mixed results regarding their impact on artery plaque.
Additionally, the researchers have not yet confirmed whether the same IL-16 pathway is the primary driver of vascular aging in humans.
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Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.
The observational study, led by Jorge Nieva, M.D., of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine, was presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers looked at dietary, smoking and demographic data for 187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer at age 50 or younger.
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They found that among non-smokers, there was a link between healthier-than-average diets – rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and the chance of lung cancer development.
Young lung cancer patients ate more servings of dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains compared to the average U.S. adult, the researchers found.
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests. (iStock)
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.
“Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy, meat and many processed foods,” according to Nieva. He also noted that agricultural workers exposed to pesticides tend to have higher rates of lung cancer.
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“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” Nieva told Fox News Digital.
The disease is becoming more common in non-smokers 50 and younger, especially women – despite the fact that smoking rates have been falling for decades, the researcher noted.
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association. (iStock)
“These patients tend to have eaten much healthier diets before their diagnosis than the average American,” he went on. “We need to support research into understanding why Americans – and women in particular – who no longer smoke very much are still having lung cancer,” he said.
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The study did have some limitations, Nieva acknowledged, primarily that it relied on survey data and was limited by the participants’ memories of their food intake.
“Also, the survey participants were self-selected, and this could have biased the findings,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking.”
The researchers did not test specific foods for pesticides, relying instead on average pesticide levels for certain types of food. Looking ahead, they plan to test patients’ blood and urine samples to directly measure pesticide levels, Nieva said.
Although the study shows only an association and does not prove that pesticides caused lung cancer, Nieva recommends that people wash their produce before eating and choose organic foods whenever possible.
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“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults,” said Nieva. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but is by no means certain,” a doctor said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said the study is “interesting,” but that it “raises far more questions than it answers.”
“It is a small study (around 150) and observational, so no proof,” the doctor, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
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“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but it is by no means certain,” Siegel went on. “How much exposure is needed? How much of it gets into food and in which areas? This requires much further study.”
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Kayla Nichols, communications director for Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, a distributed global network, said the organization agrees with the study’s conclusion that more research should be done on the rise in lung cancer, particularly in individuals eating diets higher in produce and fiber.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” the researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“There is a bounty of existing research that already links pesticide exposure to increased risk of multiple types of cancers,” Nichols, who was also not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. She called for more research on chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, as well as more effective policies to protect the public from pesticide residues on food.
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The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as industry partners including AstraZeneca and Genentech, among others.
Fox News Digital reached out to several pesticide companies and trade groups for comment.
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