Major Mumps Outbreak In New York

There's no specific word on why this outbreak has occurred, but 303 children have come down with the mumps, largely within the Hasidic communities of New Sqaure and Monsey, located on Rockland County (30 miles North of New York City).

A health official says a total of 303 people in the Rockland County towns of Monsey and New Square have been diagnosed with the highly infectious disease. Almost all the cases are among Orthodox or Hasidic Jews.

Investigators say the outbreak started in August 2009 at a Jewish summer camp in Sullivan County with an 11-year-old boy who brought the disease from England.

It has since spread to Jewish communities in Brooklyn, New Jersey and Orange county.

It's a disease that is preventable with vaccination (part of the MMR vaccine). This report indicates that many had been vaccinated but that the outbreak started with a child being infected in England, where vaccination rates are far lower than in the US.