(Oct 23) -- Mumps outbreaks in New Jersey and the New York City borough of Brooklyn are related, health officials say.
As of Thursday, there were 57 confirmed or probable cases in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reported. Health officials said they were investigating the possibility of other cases. Most of those infected are between 10 and 15 years old.
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Meanwhile, about 30 people in Lakewood, N.J., who range in age from 1 to 40 years old, have come down with the disease in the last two weeks.
The Ocean County Health Department said the cases have been primarily contained to one section of the township and some of those infected may have come into contact with each other.
Curiously, health officials in both states said that most of those sickened had been fully vaccinated against the disease. The vaccine, which nearly wiped out the mumps in the U.S., is supposed to protect against the illness 90 percent of the time.
The Daily News reported that the outbreaks were traced to a child who visited Britain and then attended a summer camp in upstate New York, where several of the other Brooklyn children were subsequently infected. Britain generally has more cases of the mumps because of lower levels of vaccination.
Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and swelling of the salivary glands.
Mumps can be spread through sneezes, coughs and exchanges of saliva.
