The Northeastern University community was asked to take extra caution Thursday after the university sent out an alert that several students had displayed symptoms consistent with the mumps.
Students were notified via text message, phone and an email through the NEU alert system that University Health & Counseling Services had treated four students after they exhibited symptoms of mumps, which include fever, headaches and swelling.
Preliminary tests showed that the students had tested negative for mumps, according to the email. However, the students, all of whom had been vaccinated against the disease, are still undergoing more tests as a precaution.
‘Over the past couple weeks, we’ve had students who have presented with symptoms consistent with mumps,’ NEU spokeswoman Renata Nyul said. ‘Once the other tests come back we’ll know for sure.’
Nyul said students and faculty closest to the students exhibiting symptoms were given special warning.
‘We notified faculty and approximately 500 students who [were] likely to come in contact with the students,’ she said. ‘If they haven’t been immunized against mumps, they should go out and get it.’
Nyul said the university was working to ensure that the disease did not spread to more students. Because two weeks can pass between someone contracting mumps and exhibiting symptoms, she said quarantining the students would not be effective.
‘The students who have symptoms are asked to stay in their rooms and stay isolated,’ Myul said. ‘Their roommates are being tested and we can provide individual rooms for them.’
NU students said they felt the university had handled the situation well.
‘The fact that Northeastern notified its student population about the developing situation via the NEU Alert System was a smart decision,’ Carolina Marion, a NU freshman, said in an email.’ ‘It shows that they care for the well-being of their community and are being upfront about potential dangers.’
Jane Shin, a NU freshman, said she was glad the university notified her, though she said was not very concerned.
‘The thing is that there were only four people affected by it,’ she said. ‘With the number I wasn’t very worried. I think the possibility of catching it is very small.’
Marion said she did not worry after learning the students had tested negative for mumps.
‘I got a text message saying that four Northeastern students had been tested for mumps and that the tests came back negative’hellip;so it was a bit anticlimactic to be perfectly honest,’ she said.
Marion said because she was almost done for the semester, this incident was unlikely to affect her. However, Marion said she was confident she would be well cared for if she did contract mumps.
‘I was sick a few times this year and the Student Health Center always did an excellent job of diagnosing me and giving me the proper medicine,’ she said. ‘If I were to get mumps, I’d feel confident with the healthcare available at Northeastern and in the city of Boston.’
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