PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH): Onset 7-10 days, but can occur up to 21 days after exposure to infected person. Pertussis is communicable throughout the incubation period and for approximately 3 weeks following onset if untreated. If treated, infectiousness usually extends 5 days or less after onset of therapy. Symptoms include runny nose, sneezing, low-grade fever, thick mucous, a cough lasting at least 2 weeks with one of the following: inspiratory “whoop” or vomiting after coughing, and exhaustion. If treatment is initiated within 7 days of exposure and no signs or symptoms are present, student may return to school after 24 hours of antibiotic therapy. If symptoms are present and no treatment is initiated the student is excluded for 21 days after exposure and symptoms subside. Students not current with immunization guidelines will be excluded from school for 21 days after exposure and must have a physician’s release to return to school thereafter.
MUMPS: an infection of the salivary glands caused by a virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle ache, and swelling of the glands close to the jaw. Transmission of mumps occurs through coughing and sneezing by airborne particles, or through direct contact with infected droplets or saliva. Mumps is about as contagious as influenza and rubella, but less so than measles or chickenpox. It is generally transmitted from about 3 days before symptoms appear to about 4 days after, although the virus has been isolated from saliva as early as 7 days before to as late as 9 days after onset of symptoms. Complications of mumps can lead to meningitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, inflammation of the pancreas and deafness (usually permanent).
Exclusion: Persons diagnosed with mumps are excluded from school for 9 days following diagnosis. Those without the compliant immunizations (1 MMR after 12 months of age and a second MMR before entering school) are excluded from school based on a range of days during which exposure could have occurred (i.e., starting the 12th day of exposure following the first day of exposure and extending to the 25th day following the last day of exposure). The MMR vaccination is recommended for all exposed persons who do not have the proper immunizations. Persons born before 1957, or those who have had a confirmed case of the mumps are considered to have immunity.
Please be aware that the district may exclude your child from school for 25 days if your child’s immunizations are not up to date. As soon as your child is up to date with his/her MMR (Measles/Mumps/Rubella) immunizations they may come back to school. Kansas Department of Health and Environment strongly recommends two doses of mumps-containing vaccine for all persons for whom vaccine is recommended.