The state Health Department reported Thursday that seven more people have come down with the mumps, bringing the total to 96 so far this year in Hawaii.
The new cases confirmed this week involve five adults and two children, none of whom needed to be hospitalized. The highly contagious viral disease can cause a tender, swollen jaw, fever, fatigue and aches but sometimes causes no symptoms.
Dr. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist, advised people to get the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps and rubella) if they were born in 1957 or later and are not already immune to mumps. If they already have a documented dose of the vaccine, they should consider a second dose, she said.
Most people born before that year are already immune to what once was a common childhood disease. Mumps is spread when a person coughs or sneezes, shares cups or eating utensils, or touches contaminated surfaces and then the eyes, nose or mouth.
For more information, visit health.hawaii.gov/docd/department-of-health-investigating-mumps-cases.
Hawaii island
No tsunami from quake
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake that occurred Thursday on Hawaii island does not pose a tsunami threat, according to Hawaii island officials.
The quake occurred at 7:01 a.m. on the south flank of Kilauea Volcano.
Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno said there were no immediate reports of any major damage or outages. “We’re waiting for final word from a few of our departments. Looks like everything is pretty good. There might be a few rocks on the road that crews are cleaning up.”
The earthquake caused some minor disturbances, including shaking off some ceiling tiles at Target in Hilo and scattering small rocks on roadways in different parts of the island.
