Iowa State Epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk says Iowa and the rest of the country have been experiencing more cases of the mumps.
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Quinlisk says part of the increase is linked to college towns.
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Black Hawk County, home to the University of Northern Iowa, has the second highest number of mumps cases at 98.
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She says it’s not surprising to see an increase in mumps in the two areas where there are colleges, because young adults’ mumps immunity from childhood shots is waning, and mumps spreads among those in close living conditions. Quinlisk says mumps outbreaks peak periodically — citing the year 2006 as an example — when Iowa reported two-thousand cases during a six-month period.