Schools in Nairobi have stepped up health alerts after suspected mumps infections were reported among learners, with parents urged to closely monitor their children for symptoms and keep anyone who falls ill out of school to help stop further spread of the virus.
Messages sent through school communication channels warned parents that mumps spreads easily through coughing, sneezing, saliva and sharing personal items. The schools urged families to stay alert and seek medical attention if children begin showing signs linked to the viral infection.
“Dear parents and guardians, we would like to inform you that there has been a reported outbreak of mumps in our area and school community. Mumps is highly infectious and spreads easily through saliva, coughing, sneezing, and sharing items,” one school notice read.
The schools asked parents to look out for swollen and painful salivary glands, fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and pain while chewing or swallowing. They also advised that children with such symptoms should remain at home until they are examined by a medical professional.
Some schools said they had strengthened cleaning programmes and were closely monitoring learners as a precaution.
“We are taking extra measures at school to sanitise and monitor the situation,” another school said in a message to parents.
Public health officer Brown Ashira as quoted by the Daily Nation explained that mumps is a viral disease that mainly causes painful swelling of the parotid glands, which are found on either side of the face. He said children between five and nine years are most commonly affected, although teenagers and adults can also contract the disease.
“What makes it particularly difficult to contain in school environments is its transmission window. A person infected with mumps is already contagious two days before the visible swelling appears,” Ashira said.
He said an infected person can continue spreading the virus for up to five days after swelling begins, making it easy for the illness to move through schools before cases are recognised.
Ashira said the virus spreads through respiratory droplets produced when infected people cough or sneeze and through contact with contaminated saliva. He added that crowded classrooms, sharing water bottles and close interaction among pupils increase the chances of infection.
“When children are crowded together and coughing, they release respiratory droplets into the air, allowing others to contract the virus,” he said.
He called on schools to improve ventilation, maintain proper hygiene and strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices to reduce transmission.
Ashira also noted that mumps has an incubation period of between 12 and 25 days, with most infected people developing symptoms after 16 to 18 days. As a result, fresh cases may continue emerging even after schools believe the situation has settled.
Even as schools continue issuing advisories, the Ministry of Health said it has not received official reports confirming a mumps outbreak in Nairobi.
“The Ministry of Health has not received any reports of a mumps outbreak in Nairobi. We have an established and robust vaccination programme for measles, mumps and rubella among many antigens,” Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said.
Duale said the ministry would review the reports using its public health surveillance systems before communicating its findings.
Ashira urged parents to ensure their children receive all recommended vaccines, saying immunisation remains the strongest protection against mumps.
“Parents should ensure their children are vaccinated. The vaccination schedule depends on standard health programming, which begins from the time a child is born,” he said.
He also advised the public to remain calm, practise good hygiene, avoid close contact with infected people and seek medical care whenever symptoms develop.