Mumps Outbreak in Maine

INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO: 56
POLICY CODE: JLCB

TO: Superintendents of Schools, Private Schools, Special Purpose Private Schools, and School Nurses
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner
DATE: November 20, 2007
SUBJECT: Mumps Outbreak in Maine

There is currently a mumps outbreak in the State of Maine. As of November 19, 2007, there have been 7 confirmed cases and 8 suspected cases in individuals between the age of seventeen and fifty-eight.

This letter should serve as a reminder that in accordance with school law, all students attending school in Maine in kindergarten through twelfth grade are required to have proof of 2 doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination or proof of disease. Unvaccinated students will be excluded from school in the event of a more local mumps outbreak in the region of the given school.
Parents do have the option to write a letter requesting their child be exempt from this law on very specific grounds (religious, philosophical or medical) defined in the law. If parents do write a request for exemption, the exemption clearly states that if there is evidence of mumps disease in the school, their child will be excluded from school until such time as the Maine Centers for Disease Control (Maine CDC) determines it is safe for the child to return to school.

An exclusion period lasts for eighteen (18) days. Every new case of mumps in the school triggers an eighteen day exclusion. Students will be readmitted promptly if they are vaccinated against mumps during this exclusion period.

For further information, please contact Nancy Dube, School Nurse Consultant, DOE, at 624-6688 or mailto:nancy.dube@maine.gov or please contact Kathleen Mahaleris, Comprehensive Health Planner I, DHHS, at 287-3746 or mailto:kathleen.mahaleris@maine.gov