OXFORD — According to a press release issued last week, Miami University’s Oxford campus has a confirmed case of mumps.

Mumps is a contagious viral disease that is spread person-to-person through saliva or mucus, usually when an infected person coughs, sneezes, shares eating or drinking utensils or has close personal contact.

The affected student lives off campus and those most closely impacted have been notified, officials reported

Mumps often starts with fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness and loss of appetite followed by swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands under the ears or jaw. The swelling can be on one or both sides of the face. Symptoms last 7-10 days.

Although serious complications are rare, they can include swelling of one or both testicles in boys or men, inflammation of the ovaries in girls and women, infections in and around the brain, and deafness.

There is no treatment for mumps, but supportive medical care can be provided. If you have not been vaccinated, Miami’s health services center encourages you to consider vaccination with an MMR vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advice for different populations, including for people born in 1957 or later regarding vaccination.

Miami’s health services center has vaccines available for students and employees. Those individuals should call 513-529-3000 for more information.

According to health offcials, it is possible to contract mumps even with past vaccination. For persons with known close contact or exposure to an affected individual with mumps, your medical provider may advise a 3rd dose MMR vaccine. This 3rd dose will not protect from a recent exposure but would protect a person with any new or future exposures. The incubation period, the time from exposure to the appearance of symptoms, is approximately 14-25 days.

Students were encouraged to visit the Miami Student Health Services website or call for an appointment if they were having any “concerning symptons.”

“It is preferred to alert the staff if you suspect mumps or are concerned regarding mumps prior to your arrival to the clinic,” the release noted.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the spread of mumps and other infections can be prevented by:

• Washing hands well and often with soap.

• Not sharing eating or drinking utensils.

• Cleaning surfaces that are frequently touched (such as toys, doorknobs, tables, and counters) regularly with soap and water or with cleaning wipes.

• Minimizing close contact with other people if you are sick.

• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and putting your used tissue in a trash can. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not into your hands.