Mumps hitting state’s Marshallese hard

The breadth of the outbreak of mumps in Northwest Arkansas appears to be linked in part to that area’s community of Marshall Islanders, the director of the state Department of Health said Monday. Meanwhile, the region’s high rate of unvaccinated schoolchildren compared with the rest of the state doesn’t appear to be a factor in the unusual size of the outbreak, said Nate Smith, director of the state Department of Health.