Mumps outbreak at Otago University

Students are being offered free booster shots in the wake of a mumps outbreak. Photo/123RF

Students at the University of Otago are being offered free booster shots after an outbreak of mumps was confirmed in Dunedin.

About 10 cases of the contagious illness have been confirmed at the university.

The university's student health team is now offering free measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) booster shots to students who have not had two MMR vaccinations since 1990, or are unsure of their vaccination history.

Clinics are being held today and tomorrow.

Pro-vice-chancellor of health sciences Professor Peter Crampton, the convener of the university's pandemic planning group, said the group was ''closely monitoring the evolving situation''.

"The Pandemic Planning Group is determining our ongoing response as the situation develops."

All students and staff had been emailed information regarding mumps, and advice had been posted on social media.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing, or through saliva, and causes swelling of the glands around the face and body.

While it usually takes between 12 and 25 days for symptoms to present, including pain in the jaw, fever, headache and swollen glands, people with mumps are infectious for seven days before swelling occurs until five days after.