Health Highlights: April 13, 2017

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Concussion Risk a Factor for Parents When Choosing Children’s Sports: Survey

Some American parents won’t allow their children to play any sports or restrict them to certain sports due to fears about concussion, a new survey finds.

It included 1,000 parents who were asked if they’d let their youngsters play sports given the risk of concussion, CBS News reported.

Sixteen percent of respondents said no to all sports, 51 percent said yes to all sports, and more than a third said it would depend on the sport. In the latter group of parents, 66 percent said they’d give the okay for basketball, 63 percent for baseball, 57 percent for soccer, 47 percent for gymnastics, and 36 percent for cheerleading, according to the survey released by the American Osteopathic Association.

Among the parents who said they’d make decisions based on specific sports, only 6 percent would give permission for rugby, 12 percent for ice hockey, 16 percent for field hockey, 17 percent for lacrosse, 18 percent for football and 18 percent for wrestling, CBS News reported.

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Texas Has Highest Number of Mumps Cases in 22 Years

Texas health officials are investigating multiple outbreaks of mumps in the state, which is seeing the highest number of cases of the disease in 22 years.

One of the outbreaks involves South Padre Island. As of April 13, the Texas Department of State Health Services had been notified of 13 mumps cases in people who traveled to South Padre Island between March 8 and March 22 from six states, including two people from Texas.

Symptoms of mumps include swelling of the salivary glands preceded by a low-grade fever, muscle pain, malaise, or headache.

Mumps is highly contagious and is transmitted between people by saliva or respiratory droplets. It’s typically 16-18 days (a range of 12-25 days) from exposure to the onset of salivary gland swelling. People are contagious from 3 days before to 5 days after the start of salivary gland swelling.

Up to 20 percent of people infected with the mumps may have no symptoms, according to Texas state health officials.

Complications are rare and usually mild, but can include deafness, pancreatitis, oophoritis, meningitis, and encephalitis.

People who might have the mumps should stay home from work, school, daycare, and any public outings until five days have passed since the start of symptoms. People with close contact to those suspected to have mumps should watch for signs and symptoms of mumps for up to 25 days after the last contact.