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Mumps makes its way to NIC

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Mumps makes its way to NIC

North Idaho College has had a suspected outbreak of Parotitis, also known as Mumps, on campus. A notification was sent out to students and staff via Cardinal mail concerning the possible outbreak on Jan. 26.

The notification outlined the basic symptoms such as “fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, and loss of appetite, followed by swollen salivary glands causing puffy cheeks and a tender, swollen jaw.” Ways of prevention according to the CDC, Centers of Disease Control, vaccination with the MMR Vaccine, washing your hands frequently, avoiding interaction with infected people, and coughing or sneezing into your arm to avoid the spread of saliva and mucus.

There have been 90 confirmed cases in Spokane. And Baylie Keys, an employee at the North Idaho College bookstore and student at the college, had a confirmed case of mumps for the Coeur d’Alene area.

“The first day I felt super nauseous. I was very sick and throwing up for about 12 hours. I didn’t think much about it- thought I ate some bad food… The next day- I woke up with a terrible sore throat,” Keys said.

Keys was first misdiagnosed with strep throat before the doctors at Urgent Care realized she had mumps. After almost a week of taking the wrong antibiotics and getting worse Keys went back and was correctly tested and the tests came back positive. She was then given the proper treatment and is now back at work and school with a clean bill of health.

“I hope no one gets mumps because that was a living hell,” Keys said.

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