Mumps creates panic in Khulna primary school

Around 50 students have been suffering from mumps for one month, spreading panic among guardians and teachers and decreasing attendance of students.

Shabnam Shireen Akhter, headmistress of Damodar Karigorpara Government Primary School under Phultala upazila of the district, said a few students were attacked by the virus in early November, which gradually spread to other students.

This correspondent visited the school yesterday and saw that many students were wearing masks. Quack doctors are prescribing vitamins and antibiotic tablets, and some are using mud as an ointment for the throat.

Rafit Gazi, a Class II student, said he took treatment in his house for severe pain for the last five to six days, and the pain has gone.

Mirajul Sardar, a Class V student, has been suffering from this disease for the last ten days. He said he could not eat or even talk.

Shariful Islam, an assistant teacher and also a guardian, said he was attacked by the virus in 2014, and his two sons were attacked a few months later.

Paediatric consultant of Khulna General Hospital Dr Sharafat Hossain said the disease is called parotid gland inflammation, commonly known as mumps. It is not dangerous but contagious, he added.