Mumps Outbreak at Two Lakewood Yeshivos

Several weeks after bochurim at Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah of Lakewood came down with mumps, another six bochurim, this time at Yeshiva Toras Chaim of Lakewood, have contracted the illness, Matzav.com has learned. The bochurim at Yeshiva Toras Chaim, which is led by Rav Mendel Slomovits, will be going home for Yom Kippur.

When a bochur at Yeshiva Toras Chaim noticed that his face had blown up, he and another bochur walked to the home of Yoni Mayer, a well known Hatzolah volunteer who lives on Ridge Avenue, off of East Seventh Street. Yoni, recognizing the various medical possibilities of the symptoms, brought the bochur to Dr. Hillel Peltz on nearby Somerset Avenue. Dr. Peltz recommended that the boy be evaluated by a doctor at Khal Ateres Yeshaya. In the meantime, the bochur related that a fellow talmid at the yeshiva had been suffering from similar symptoms. It was arranged for the non-Jewish Hatzolah volunteer in Lakewood to pick up that bochur back at the yeshiva and bring him to Khal Ateres Yeshaya. There, Dr. Dovid Ogun examined the bochurim and said that it appeared that they had contracted mumps. The yeshiva was told to keep the bochurim – all of them, even those who were not suffering from any symptoms – quarantined for the duration of Shabbos.

Dr. Reuven Shanik, well known pediatrician, has said that there is not much that could be done medically for the symptoms other than applying ice and administering Motrin. Mumps is a viral disease and usually causes painful swelling of the salivary glands. A rash may also occur. The disease is generally self-limited, running its course before receding, with no specific treatment apart from controlling the symptoms with painkillers.

It appears that the boys who contracted the disease all had proper immunizations, so it remains undetermined how they caught it. Dr. Shanik said that all the bochurim should double-check to make sure that they have received both the first and second shots of the mumps vaccination.

At Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah, which is led by Rav Shaye Treff and is located on Princeton Avenue, approximately seven bochurim have contracted mumps over the last several weeks, with the latest suspected case having been discovered today. The first bochurim to suffer symptoms were diagnosed by Dr. Ogun. Blood tests performed in New York later confirmed that it was indeed mumps that had been contracted.

Dr. Shanik has said that those bochurim who are not suffering from any symptoms at this point and have had proper immunizations pose no danger at all to anyone else.

A Lakewood physician told Matzav.com that, generally, such an outbreak originates from a person or persons who did not receive proper immunizations. “This is a reminder to all residents in all communities to make sure that their children receive the proper vaccinations,” he said.

One source in the Lakewood medical community told Matzav.com that it is believed that the current outbreak originated in Monsey, NY, but that it is difficult to confirm.

{Dovid Bernstein-Matzav.com Newscenter}