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By BETH QUIMBY
MaineToday Media, Inc. 12/07/2007

MaineToday Media, Inc.

Steve Boisvert evaded the mumps police long enough to get through his sociology class Thursday morning. Then he dashed to the University of Southern Maine's health center for a mumps vaccination.

"They didn't kick me out," said Boisvert, a junior media studies major from Portland.

Until Boisvert got a shot, he was one of 426 students -- 49 of whom live in the university's residence halls -- who USM officials were still trying to track down to make sure they had two mumps vaccinations.

All full-time and residence hall students on USM's Portland and Gorham campuses were told last week that they would be banned from campus starting Thursday if they didn't have the doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Students who could not show proof of vaccination or were not exempt for medical reasons were told that they would be kept out of classes and their student identification cards would be deactivated, which would lock them out of their dorms.

USM officials said they would find alternative accommodations for students who had to leave the dorms.

By the end of Thursday, university officials did not know exactly how many students were still out of compliance. Spokeswoman Judie O'Malley said the number was expected to be considerably less than it was at the start of the day.

About 20 students had declined vaccinations on religious or philosophical grounds, O'Malley said.

The highly contagious viral infection was confirmed in a student on the Gorham campus last month. The student has since fully recovered and returned to class.

For college students, two doses of mumps vaccine are required, rather than the previously recommended single dose. Most students have had two doses as part of their childhood vaccinations. But as of last week, university records indicated that 1,300 full-time and residential students had not.

The university began a massive campaign to alert students and set up clinics, where about 430 vaccinations were given on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But as of Thursday morning, hundreds of students, such as Boisvert, had not complied.

Boisvert said he simply had not heard of the mumps situation until Wednesday, even though the university sent notices to the students in question by e-mail and the Postal Service.

Boisvert said he was so busy, between work and school, that he was clueless until Wednesday, when his parents called from Windham to tell him he had received something in the mail from the university.

"They asked me if I wanted them to open it and read it, and I said sure," said Boisvert, who, along with his shot, got clearance to attend classes.

Josh Sweet of Portland, a senior political science major, said he was notified in a phone message, which he didn't get until Wednesday, when it was too late to make it to the clinics.

"I was busy writing papers," he said.

He got a shot in time for his Thursday afternoon class. Final exams start Dec. 17, and Sweet said it would have hurt to be excluded from class so close to the end of the semester.

Professors were chasing down students on Thursday. Thomas Parchman, associate professor in the university's School of Music and chair of the faculty senate, was notified Thursday morning that four music students were out of compliance.

"We are going full tilt, working to resolve it so they can stay in school," said Parchman.

Parchman said his hope is that the outbreak will not resurface. Outbreaks at colleges in the West earlier this year persisted for months.

Marie Follayttar, a senior from Portland, said students seem to be handling the outbreak calmly.

"I have not seen any freakouts today," she said.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is awaiting test results from two USM students who were suspected of having mumps.

The previously confirmed case at the university was the eighth in an outbreak that has hit southern and central Maine this fall. State health officials are awaiting test results for 35 more possible cases.

Geoff Beckett, the assistant state epidemiologist, said students who do not comply with the two-vaccination order will be allowed back on campus 18 days after the onset of the last confirmed case of mumps, which could be weeks if more cases are confirmed.

USM's Lewiston campus, about 35 miles from Portland, was not affected by the vaccination rule.

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