In Marshall County, Kan., just south of the Nebraska border, public health officials are eagerly awaiting the last day of school on Thursday.
Over the past three months, the county has taken the lead in Kansas mumps cases, with 29 confirmed illnesses that have mostly occurred at the Marysville Junior Senior High School.
“We’re hoping with the close contact related with school, that kids may not be together as much in that close an environment (once school is out) and then we may see less risk of that transmission,” said Tami Stowell, a public health nurse in the Marshall County Health Department.
Johnson County officials aren’t expecting a similar reprieve. Their outbreak may get worse before it gets better, as students exposed to mumps at universities in the region return home.
The Marshall County mumps outbreak is one of several across Kansas, which has had 144 cases since December, and Missouri, which has had more than 400.
In Kansas, most of Riley County’s 17 cases have been at Kansas State University, most of Douglas County’s 17 cases have been at the University of Kansas and the Crawford County outbreak that sickened 15 started at Pittsburg State University.
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