hubby has mumps! am i immune, is child?

jellyhead

ho hum, my hubby has mumps, he's seen the doctor today. he had a mild case as a child and they've taken blood, they do research into why people get it more than once apparently.

he can't think of where he got it from although there's an outbreak at the university and hundreds of students have been immunised. he doesn't come into contact with the students but i do. i work at mcd's and the students have all been ill over the last 2 or 3 weeks. is it possible that i've carried the virus to hubby but don't have mumps myself? i'm in a lot of contact with these students and they've all been asked to work regardless of illness, plus there's the incubation period where they will have been infectious. hubby ran a stall at the school fayre 3 weeks ago so i suppose it could have come from there but we've heard nothing about mumps at school.

i'm just worried about the rest of us, are we immune or not? i had mumps very badly as a child. my son has had the MMR and the booster, he's 8 now so will be be okay? he's got a cold and feels very poorly but i've sent him to school today for the last day. i've got a cold and flu type symptoms, i'm on antibiotics for sinus/chest/tonsil infection so i'm assuming that my son is coming down with what i've got and won't actually get mumps.

does anyone know anything about immunity? does anyone who's been immunised ever get mumps? i'm assuming that it won't affect my baby as i'll have my own immunity. should i call the school and ask if my son should come home, or just pick him up in 2.5 hours as normal? it's just so difficult to tell mumps in the early stages from a cold/flu/throat infection and there are probably children at the school that haven't been immunised. i don't want to panic but i wouldn't like the virus to spread because of us. i know it's not as serious as measles but even so i wouldn't want anyone becoming infertile or anything lol!

Squidgy

I think you should phone your GP and ask them!

One of the girls that works in my office had mumps a couple of weeks ago, but the rest of us were fine.

Think there is quite an outbreak at the moment, possibly due to the MMR scare.

Spendless

Hi Bargain Bunny

My son recently had the booster MMR and this is how the HV explained it to me.

The 1st MMR gives immunity to x% of people who receive it (can't remember exact figures but it was high)

The booster MMR is given so it then (should) catch the % of people it didn't give immunity to first time round.

If your son has had 2 MMR vaccines IMO i think it's highly unlikely that he'll get mumps (i won't say definately not - just in case lol).

If you had severe mumps that i should imagine you are also immune.

Your husband had a mild case of mumps so that probably didn't give him immunity, and i think probably picked it up at the school fayre.

BUT - if you are worried, i'd say ring your midwife/GP/maternity hospital just for re-assurance.

Good Luck - let us know how you get on

Savvy_Sue

Agree with Spendless - and you could also ring NHS Direct or look on website.

They are MMRing secondary school kids in Avon, starting with the 16+ group who were born before MMR was invented and working their way down through those who only had one MMR. Unfortunately at my sons' school they've had to postpone Jab Day twice because there's been a D&V bug decimating attendance!

Glad

bargain bunny

to answer your last point although mumps can cause swollen testicles in men which in theory could cause fertility problems, In Hospital we always inform people that there has never been a proven case of this

nearlyrich

Big Hugs BB hope you are not worrying too much about the baby, I don't think I have ever heard anything about Mumps affecting unborn babies, things get lumped together with MMR etc and people worry.

My son came home from Uni in November with Mumps, NHS Direct told him to come home for a week. He slept for a weekend and although he was very swollen and found it hard to eat and swallow he recovered quickly and went back to college within the week. Apparantly the contagious period is before the swelling so it's almost impossible to track.

Both of my children had mumps about 4 years ago, they are too old for MMR and couldn't have the triple vaccine because of egg allergy. The GP had to check the symptoms because she couldn't remember seeing mumps for years.

Hope your hubby is feeling OK, he will probably not feel much like Christmas but hope the rest of you keep well.

jellyhead

hi, thanks for the replies :-)

i asked my GP and they said it's unlikely that the mumps will affect me or my son. hubby has been told to stay away from unvaccinated children so his xmas activities will be curtailed a bit - poor him having to stay at home with just a playstation for company while we go to the wacky warehouse for family dinners lol!

i read in the miriam stoppard book that contracting mumps in the first 12 weeks leads to a slightly higher risk of miscarriage but i don't think i'm going to get mumps so i'm not too worried. i read on the internet that sterility is very rare after getting mumps. hubby's mum used to be a nurse and she thinks it's unlikely that i carried the virus from work to my hubby, it's more likely that he met somebody with it, so i'll stop worrying that my son and i are passing the virus around. hubby feels a bit rough so he's having some time off work but it's not too bad, there are worse things to catch :-)

for the sake of the children i hope there isn't an outbreak of mumps at the school because they currently have chicken pox and the reception year kids are very poorly, i hope the poor things don't get mumps too!

Spendless

bargain bunny - most people have their children vaccinated either by MMR or single vaccines so try not to worry too much about mumps breaking out at school - you could always ring the headteacher and speak to her about it if you're concerned.

if your husbands anything like mine - he'll probably welcome a bit of peace at Christmas - instead of listening to kids running wild - on chocolate highs and well giddy at wacky warehouse. lol

seriously hope he's better soon.

and enjoiy your christmas :-*

jellyhead

thanks :-)

yes, he was really happy about missing out on last night's meal at brewers fayre and there were 7 children in all, most of whom behaved distustingly badly (not mine or the friend we took) and i was so embarassed i wanted to crawl under the table to escape the dirty looks from staff and other customers. it was worse than hubby predicted it would be so he was really happy to escape it lol! he's enjoying having the extra time off work too, he's supposed to work right up til lunchtime today :-)