COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE: The student tested negative for mumps, a health official told Channel 2.
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A middle school student in Coweta County is suspected of having contracted mumps, health officials confirmed Friday.
Channel 2's Lori Wilson was at Lee Middle School, where parents got a letter Wednesday about the illness.
Mumps is a viral illness that causes swelling in one or both salivary glands in the cheek and jaw, low-grade fever, headache and sore throat.
Health officials say that children who have received the recommended two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine are extremely unlikely to develop mumps.
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"It's just really scary that things like that can go around, just right here around you," parent Mindy McBroom said.
Four cases of mumps have been confirmed in Georgia so far this year, and they were all at Stewart Detention Center.
Coweta County health officials said it will take a week to confirm whether or not the Lee Middle School student has the mumps.
The Health Department said once someone is exposed to the mumps, it can take 16-25 days for symptoms to appear.
It said that, if any of the students show symptoms before May 20, they should go directly to the doctor.
Cox Media Group
