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Mumps Outbreak Spreads in Far Rockaway, Officials Say

By Katie Honan | August 24, 2015 8:33am

FAR ROCKAWAY — A mumps outbreak in the Rockaways has left at least three people sick, officials said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health confirmed it is investigating three cases of the disease in Far Rockaway, although she did not specify where on the peninsula it originated. 

The first reported case was on Aug. 16, an official said.

The department recommends anyone who is sick with the disease to stay home while they're infectious.

It's the first cluster of mumps cases in the city this year, although there have been 25 individual cases of it between January and June 2015, according to the health department. 

Mumps is spread by droplets — contagious people have to be very close to spread it to someone else, a health official said. 

There was a mumps outbreak at Fordham University in 2014 with more than 50 cases reported at the Bronx college, later spreading to its Lincoln Center campus. 

And in 2010, there were 887 cases of the mumps in an outbreak that was centered around the city's Orthodox Jewish community.

The DOH wouldn't say specifically where the most recent outbreak was on the peninsula and said it is continuing to investigate.