It was just a normal, busy end of the week for U. California-Berkeley junior Janki Patel: she dutifully participated in a discussion section for class the morning of Sept. 29, attended a press conference on the new redistricting proposal the following morning and organized UC Berkeley’s annual Raas Garba later that night.

But her sore throat and swollen jaw indicated that the week was far from normal.

“It was just a week of pure insanity,” she said. “My throat hurt, and my jaw felt extremely awkward because my salivary glands were inflamed. I had a fever and pretty much lost my appetite.”

Patel was unaware that her symptoms — which she first noticed Sept. 28 — were indicative of mumps.

“I was really confused at first,” she said. “I just kept Googling each one of my symptoms, but I couldn’t find anything.”

After five days of suffering from the at times debilitating symptoms, which she alleviated using painkillers, Patel decided to contact the nurse advice hotline at UC Berkeley’s University Health Services. She said she had heard talk of a mumps outbreak on campus and was afraid she might have contracted it.

“I looked up mumps online, and it seemed that every single symptom applied to me,” she said.

Two days after the onset of Patel’s symptoms, University Health Services Medical Director Brad Buchman emailed the UC Berkeley residential community a possible mumps exposure notice, citing several confirmed cases of mumps in students residing in Clark Kerr Campus and the Cloyne Court student cooperative.

According to the notice, students with two prior mumps vaccinations were considered “protected against mumps.”

However, after students with two prior doses of the vaccination began contracting the virus — including Patel — University Health Services revised this advice, stating that a third dose of the vaccine is highly recommended to reduce the transmission of mumps.

According to the state Department of Public Health, there were 15 confirmed and 15 suspected cases of mumps at UC Berkeley as of Wednesday.

But while those with confirmed cases of mumps were aware that they had contracted the highly contagious viral infection, Patel had no idea that the mumps was responsible for her extreme discomfort.

Coincidentally, the day Patel learned her symptoms were due to mumps was the same day she learned that she was probably no longer contagious. According to the University Health Services’ website, individuals with mumps are contagious for five days following the onset of symptoms.

“It was funny in a way because I had no idea that I had a viral disease until it ended,” she said. “I still don’t know how I got it. It was probably from one of my classes.”

Patel, who is president of Indus, a South Asian cultural club at UC Berkeley, and chief deputy of local affairs in the office of the ASUC External Affairs Vice President, joked that she is probably one of the worst people on campus to have had mumps.

“I came into close contact with all kinds of people while I had mumps, and I didn’t know I was contagious through any of it,” she said.

Patel said she has urged everyone she knows to get the third dose of the mumps vaccination for extra protection.

“If I gave it to anyone else, they would start feeling symptoms next week, and I’ll feel really bad because it’s midterm season,” she said.