Mumps has broken out at a Texas jail, sickening 11 prisoners and three medical staff members who have been restricted to isolation, officials said Thursday.
Meanwhile, a total of about 300 other inmates that may have come into contact with the infected prisoners have been quarantined, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said during a press conference, Houston Public Media reported.
Harris County Jail is the second corrections facility in the US this week to report an outbreak of mumps, a highly contagious viral infection.
Like measles - which has struck over 1,000 Americans so far this year - the virus is preventable with the MMR shot, but immunization rates have fallen in recent years amid anti-vaxxer sentiments in the US.
At least 11 inmates and three prison medical staff members at Harrison County Jail in Houston, Texas (pictured) have contracted measles, the facility said on Thursday
Harrison County Jail's outbreak began in May, when one inmate started to show symptoms, which may include fever, head and muscle aches, fatigue, low appetite, and, most obviously, often lop-sided swelling of the cheeks or jaw.
Mumps typically looks like a cold and clears up within a few weeks, but in some adults it can cause lasting complications.
Men's testicles may become inflamed, and then shrink in the long-term.
The infection can also lead to inflammation of the ovaries and breast tissue in women and of the pancreas brain or spinal cord in either sex.
Occasionally, people who have had mumps go deaf.
Although the
