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STATION COLLEGE, Tex. (KBTX) – More than 150 people across the country reported having contracted mumps infection so far this year.
Prior to the creation of the MMR vaccine in 1967, a relatively small number of cases of hundreds of thousands of cases had been reported.
Earlier this month, several cases were confirmed at Temple University and Colorado officials quarantined people with signs of illness at an ICE facility.
"These outbreaks usually occur in densely populated areas with lots of people," said Dr. Seth Sullivan, with Baylor Scott and White Health.
Mumps, like measles, is a highly contagious virus that doctors say is easily transmitted by coughing and sneezing.
In Texas, the health departments say that there have been between 20 and 49 cases.
"We are learning that it is still transmissible," Sullivan said. "Even in vaccinated people, the vaccine is effective at spreading large-scale transmission."
Dr. Sullivan said that even though we had a 92% vaccination rate, he felt that there were more viruses, such as mumps and measles.
"This is what we call collective immunity and we will not see the rapid and widespread spread of the virus as we had seen it before 1967."
According to the CDC, the number of cases each year has slowly increased since the end of 2015.
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