An outbreak of mumps at NIU and other Illinois universities has spurred an investigation by the national Centers for Disease Control.

NIU reported five cases of mumps since Jan. 1, 1987, and that number is expected to rise, said Tom Schafer, a spokesman for the Illinois Public Health Department. Mary Lynn McArtor, director of nursing at the DeKalb County Health Department said five cases of mumps were reported in DeKalb County since January of l987.

The problem is worse at other Illinois universities. Western Illinois University reported 52 cases of mumps at the end of last semester, according to Dr. Charles Hughes, head of the health center at WIU. The majority of the afflicted students had been immunized, he said.

As a result of the large number of mumps cases at WIU, the CDC began investigating the WIU epidemic last week, Hughes said. The CDC went to the WIU residence halls and asked resident assistants to find people who might have had symptoms of mumps but didn’t go to the health center, Hughes said.

Thirty-two cases of mumps were reported at WIU through the health center last semester and the other 20 were reported from students’ private doctors during the semester break, Hughes said. Only two cases have been reported since the break, he said.

Schafer said the reason for the outbreak of mumps might be that Illinois, until recently, was one of 18 states that did not require school children to be immunized.

College students are urged to be immunized if they have not had mumps or had a vaccination, Schafer said. Students who want to be vaccinated should go to the NIU Health Center, but there might be a charge for the shot, said Dr. Rosemary Lane, director of the health center.

Schafer said the number of mumps cases in Illinois reported in 1987 has increased dramatically. Schafer said there were 1,002 cases reported in the first three months of 1987. The number of mumps cases reported in 1986 rose from 292 in 1985 to 2,743 cases in 1986, Schafer said.