Childhood immunizations in the United States
Mumps is a contagious disease caused by the virus by the same name. Since most people in the United States have been vaccinated, mumps is now a rare disease in this country. Currently there are no specific treatments for mumps.
Mumps is spread person to person by droplets of saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose or throat of an infected person. This is done through coughing, sneezing, talking, and coming into contact with contaminate items. Transmission likely occurs before the salivary glands swell an up to 5 days after the swelling begins.
Melanie's Marvelous Measles
Independent data shows that measles causes the most vaccine-preventable deaths of any disease, resulting in about 96,000 deaths in 2013, and the vaccine is 97% effective after two shots. Measles is highly contagious – before immunization in the United States there were between three and four million cases annually – and the fatality rate is approximately 0.2% of those infected. Most of those who are infected and who die are less than five years old.