CDC: Mumps Cases Surpass 2017’s Total, with New York and Michigan Leading the Way

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is alerting healthcare providers that confirmed cases of mumps are becoming more prevalent, with 142 cases reported across the U.S. That’s already more than were seen in all of 2018. Michigan and New York are seeing a disproportionate number of those cases, based on data from local and state health officials there. Michigan already has more cases this year (15) than it has seen in any full calendar years since 1994, when there were 26 cases. In New York, there’s a concentrated outbreak in Rockland County, a suburban area northeast of New York City; there have been 55 cases there. Most of the cases across the country have been traced back to international travelers coming from countries where immunization is less common than it is in the U.S. While that’s true in the Rockland County, NY outbreaks as well, the numbers may be greater because the area is home to a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish population that discourages at least some vaccinations.