Vaccines and Preventable Diseases:
Mumps - Travel Q&A
For Parents and Healthcare Professionals
What should I do if I plan to travel to a state affected by a mumps outbreak, for example, to attend a college graduation?
Although the risk of exposure to mumps for most travelers will be relatively low, you should make sure that you are fully vaccinated. This is especially important if you plan to attend graduations or other events in states experiencing mumps outbreaks. One or more persons with mumps related to the current outbreak have been reported from 13 states as of May 5, 2006: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In this outbreak, most cases are among persons aged 18-24 years; some colleges in these states are experiencing outbreaks.
Here is what it takes to be fully vaccinated or immune:
All children 12 months to 4 years of age should have had 1 dose of MMR vaccine
- All school-aged children (K-12) and students attending post-high school educational institutions should have had 2 doses of vaccine
- Adults who live in or travel to an outbreak affected area should have at least 1 dose, unless you were diagnosed by a doctor with mumps earlier in life, or have laboratory evidence of immunity to mumps. Most people born in the United States before 1957 had mumps and cannot get it again. If you don't know if you had vaccine or mumps in the past, it is safe to get the vaccine. Particularly for adults who plan to attend a large gathering in a state with many mumps cases, vaccination with a two doses of MMR should be considered. You can contact the state health department for more specific information.
The measles/mumps/rubella vaccine, or MMR, is widely available and is preferred over mumps-only vaccine, which is not widely available.
It takes about 2 weeks after vaccination before your body develops immunity to mumps. If you must travel to an affected area before you have immunity from vaccine, wash your hands frequently, do not share eating utensils or beverage containers, and avoid other sources of saliva from another person, such as from a person who is sneezing or coughing.
One dose of vaccine protects about 80% of the people who receive it. Two doses protect about 90%. Watch yourself carefully for signs of mumps (fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, and loss of appetite, followed by swelling of salivary glands). The parotid salivary glands (which are located within your cheek, near your jaw line, below your ears) are most often the ones that swell. See your health care provider if you develop these symptoms.
Can mumps be spread on airplanes?
There may be some risk of getting sick from illnesses, such as mumps, during air travel that can be spread by mucus or droplets from the nose or throat of an infected person, usually when a person coughs or sneezes. The current outbreak investigation has identified people who may have been traveling while infectious with mumps. The risk of mumps transmission on an airplane is probably low.
Beginning October 2006, no further contact tracing of mumps will be conducted on flights less than 5 hours long by any federal agency. However, states may choose to investigate shorter flights on their own if they wish to be more conservative.
What can I do to protect myself from infection during air travel?
The most effective tool for preventing mumps is to be vaccinated with MMR vaccine (see the Mumps Vaccine Information Statement) unless you have other evidence of immunity to mumps. Another important thing travelers can do to keep from getting sick is to wash their hands often and well with soap and water. Frequent handwashing (see An Ounce of Prevention page for more information on handwashing) washes away germs that may have been picked up from other people or from contaminated surfaces. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand gel (with at least 60% alcohol).
Travelers who are sick can help prevent the spread of infection by not flying while they are ill. If travel is unavoidable, ill travelers should use tissues to cover their coughs and sneezes, wash their hands often, and avoid close contact with others.
Return to Mumps Outbreaks page
Content last reviewed on April 17, 2006
Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases