Students at three public schools in Mililani received lunches bought from Costco on Friday rather than their regular school lunches after a cafeteria worker at Mililani High School was diagnosed with the mumps.
Administrators decided to serve 2,500 alternate lunches at Mililani High, Mililani Uka Elementary and Mililani Waena Elementary after the Department of Health confirmed the diagnosis Friday.
“All of our food service workers follow proper health and safety procedures when preparing food and the decision to withdraw today’s lunches was made in an abundance of caution for our students’ health,” Complex Area Superintendent Bob Davis said Friday. “All students were provided alternate lunches and our cafeteria facilities will be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly as they are each day.”
Mumps, a contagious viral disease, is spread through coughing, sneezing and touching infected items, such as cups and utensils.
Once common in childhood, the disease is making a comeback in many states. In Hawaii nearly all students are vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella before being allowed on campus.
The Mililani case is the latest in a persistent outbreak of mumps that has reached 362 cases statewide this year. That far outpaces the previous record of 42 in 2001, in data stretching back to 1990.
Altogether, 30 new cases were reported over the past week in the islands. Over the previous five weeks, the number of new cases ranged from 20 to 28.
“The number of mumps cases based on the data we have collected show a fairly steady rate with our ongoing outbreak,” Janice Okubo, Department of Health spokeswoman, said Friday.
“Mumps is highly infectious,” she said. “Outbreaks in other states have lasted for an extended period of time. It is very important to follow the recommendations from the Department of Health on how to minimize the spread of mumps.”
The symptoms of mumps resemble the flu and include fever, headache, fatigue and loss of appetite. The trademark symptom of the disease is swollen salivary glands, near the jaw.
The best way to prevent the spread of mumps is vaccination, according to health officials. The Health Department urges anyone who is not already immune to the disease to have both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as MMR.
People who suspect they have mumps should contact a health care provider immediately. Symptoms usually appear from 12 to 25 days after infection with the virus.
State law says people with mumps should not attend school, work or travel for nine days after the onset of swollen salivary glands.
People born before 1957 tend to be immune since the disease used to be so prevalent. The recommendation for a second MMR dose came in 1998, so many adults might not have had it.
