CA - warning on an outbreak of mumps

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TORONTO -

Health officials have issued a warning on an outbreak of mumps that has already

infected three people in Toronto

and could hit hundreds more, the city's public health agency said on Wednesday.

The three confirmed cases occurred after two university

students returned to Toronto

from the east coast city of Halifax,

Nova Scotia, and passed it to one

of their friends. That person then unknowingly exposed

about 300 others to the virus at a busy downtown Toronto

bar last week, Toronto Public Health officials said.

The health agency has issued a warning for those people to be

on the lookout for signs and symptoms of the disease. A serious mumps outbreak in Eastern

Canada has prompted health officials there to look into plans for

a vaccination program. The mumps is not

usually a serious illness, but it can cause meningitis, hearing loss and orchitis (inflammation of the testicles).

Women who get the illness in the first three months of pregnancy can

also miscarry. The highly contagious

disease has previously broken out in Eastern Canada and

the U.S. Midwest.

Canada's

outbreak began in Nova Scotia in

February where so far 222 people have been infected. Overall,

nine cases have been confirmed in Ontario. The mumps virus is spread through saliva by

sharing drinks, food, cigarettes, kissing or by coughing and sneezing. Symptoms

include swelling and pain in the salivary glands, fever, headache, muscle aches

and pains, fatigue and loss of appetite.

Most of the recent cases have been among university students

who are more susceptible to contracting it. " Students

typically live in residence, they fraternize more and

they might share drinks more, " said Dr. Vinita Dubey,

associate medical officer of health for Toronto Public Health.

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