community health manager...at floyd valley hospital...tara geddes says getting vaccinated is your best line of defense. "this is our mmr vaccine. we reccommend giving it at 12 months of age and again when a child is 4-6 years old they get a booster dose before they go to school," said tara geddes community health manager at floyd valley hospital. the fast spreading infection...first appeared at the university of iowa last students.. and continued to spread across the state...as students returned home over the winter break. if you happen to fall ill...tara says you should ride the illness out. if you do contract mumps the biggest thing you can do is just supportive care; making sure that you stay away from people, avoid contact with anybody, kind of isolate yourself during that period of time," said tara geddes, community health manager at floyd valley hospital. on average symptoms appear within 12 to 25 days.. and carriers are contagious 3 days prior to showing symptoms...and for four days after being ill. while this outbreak continues...being vigilant is key. "really good handwashing