by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Parents of students who attend Machanaonao Elementary School in Yigo are asked to take extreme caution, as there may be possible cases of the mumps at the school. Principal Robert Malay confirms that at least one student and one employee were sent home after they displayed symptoms of the virus.

He says the school nurse sent the two home pending further testing, which may take up to five days for the results to come back. Principal Malay added, "We're taking all of these threats very seriously, we want to make sure that the school is safe, that the classrooms are safe. We are going to be sending home further guidance possibly as early as tomorrow with each child just to be on the safe side of what to look out for and what to do and how to react and please let us know if you have other suspicions as well, so that we can notify other students and families."

Department of Education has trained all of its nurses to handle any mumps cases. Currently Simon Sanchez High School is the only school with out a full-time nurse.

The Department of Public Health recently announced an outbreak of the mumps locally with more than 100 cases reported since January.