Officials suspect that the illness that has already spread to 13 people resemble the same symptoms as the mumps. Nothing has been confirmed as yet, however, whatever it is, it’s spreading to other sections of the college from which it originated.

Fordham University in the Bronx is working to contain the outbreak as one new case was reported Thursday at the Midtown location, and four more new cases at Rose Hill, and the school’s Lincoln Center Campus,
officials said.

“Fordham does not yet have laboratory confirmation that the illness is mumps, but that is the most likely diagnosis,” a University spokeswoman said in a statement.

All of the students with suspected infections have either returned home or have been isolated from other residents.

The mumps were more common before the development of a vaccination, and mostly common in children. It is a viral disease, caused by the mumps virus. It is still a significant threat to health in developing countries, and outbreaks still occur sporadically in developed countries.

What could be problematic though is that an estimated 20 percent of those infected do not display symptoms, making the virus much more difficult to detect, as well as easily spread.

Another fact about the mumps is that young men that have passed puberty have a 15–20 percent risk of orchitis, which is a painful inflammation of the testicles, as well as the swelling of salivary glands.

Symptoms include fever, weakness or tiredness, swollen, painful glands on one or both sides of the face,and pain when chewing or or swallowing. The swelling can be extreme in many cases, around the lower face and neck area.

Experts say that people who contract the mumps are contagious for two days prior to the outbreak of symptoms and five days after.

“Mumps in college-age men and women usually runs its course without any lasting effects,” the University’s statement said. “Nonetheless, the University is trying to see what connection there might be among the affected students while stepping up the frequency and intensity of cleanings in communal bathrooms.”

In an effort to stop the spread of this very contagious and painful virus, the university is requiring incoming students to get vaccinated for the mumps and a few other common infectious diseases.

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