The North Carolina Division of Public Health recently issued several updated memos on communicable diseases involving a mumps outbreak in the Charlotte area and the Zika virus, which has been much in the news lately.
The Division of Public Health is working with local health departments to investigate and control an outbreak of mumps in the Charlotte region. The memo is intended to summarize information regarding mumps diagnosis, management and prevention and to encourage clinicians to promptly report suspected mumps cases.
As of March 7, 15 cases had been identified among persons in the Charlotte region with parotitis onset dates ranging from January 10–February 29, 2016. Mumps cases were first reported among employees at a large home improvement corporate office in Iredell County. More recent cases have been identified among persons with no known link to this office or to previously reported cases, including two students at a university in Mecklenburg County. Mumps outbreaks have also been recently reported among students at colleges and universities in several other states, including cases among vaccinated students.
Read the memo on mumps here.
The Division of Public Health also issued an updated memo to provide information to NC clinicians and laboratories regarding diagnosis, management and reporting of Zika virus infection. This memo was updated to include revised information and guidance about sexual transmission of Zika virus from male travelers to female non-travelers. Read the memo on the Zika virus here.
