It’s not the kind of record that Douglas County and state health experts wanted, but it has helped them prepare for a more serious emergency or bioterror attack.

The 274 confirmed or probable mumps cases in Douglas County during this year’s outbreak has now surpassed the 245 cases recorded during the mumps epidemic of 1988-89, according to the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.

Though the number of new cases in the county and state have declined during the past few weeks since Kansas University ended its spring semester, health officials must wait until the county goes 50 days – or two incubation periods – without a new mumps case before declaring the outbreak over.

“Absolutely, it’s slowed down considerably after the students left,” said Sheryl Tirol Goodwin, spokeswoman for the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.

Through June 2, 198 KU students were diagnosed with the mumps, and through Monday, the state had 761 confirmed and probable cases in 68 counties, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

KDHE spokeswoman Sharon Watson said the state’s cases had already started to wane before state universities ended their semesters.

“The decline may have more to do with the timing of the virus in a typical cycle for an outbreak. (The typical cycle) is for it to last a few weeks, peak and then start to taper off,” she said.

Of the outbreak in the Midwest since late February and early March, Iowa has been hit the hardest with 1,785 confirmed or probable mumps cases reported since June 7, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Investigators with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have spent weeks in Kansas and studied the outbreak, Watson said, and CDC staff members are trying to determine a possible cause.

The median age for those infected with the mumps is 22 in Iowa and 21 in Kansas. Also in Kansas, 74 percent of those infected had received at least one measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. According to Iowa statistics, about half of those infected received both MMR vaccinations.

In most Douglas County cases, the college students infected had received two MMR vaccinations, Tirol Goodwin said.

Tirol Goodwin and Watson said CDC investigators are looking for particular causes and trends, including possibly the efficacy of the vaccine given to those in the primary age group affected.

The outbreak has allowed KDHE to implement – for the first time – its federally mandated incident command structure to relay information to different public bodies and agencies in the state, which would be used during a flu pandemic or bioterrorism attack, Watson said.

Tirol Goodwin said in Douglas County, those infected seemed to adhere to the advised isolation periods. Also, because the mumps created more of an inconvenience for those infected rather than severe or life-threatening illness, it gave health officials the opportunity to help inform and work with the public, she said.

“This is obviously something that will help us practice if something bigger should happen,” Tirol Goodwin said.