Officials at Fordham University say several students on its Rose Hill campus in the Bronx have contracted mumps, Bronx News 12 reported.

The school's health services department said eight students have been diagnosed with the contagious disease since January.  Seven of those cases were reported this week, four of them Tuesday and three Wednesday, Bronx News 12 reported.

Mumps is a contagious, viral disease that leads to painful swelling of the salivary glands. It can cause fever. Headaches, muscle aches, fatigue and loss of appetite. Typically mumps patients are contagious for two days prior to the outbreak of symptoms and five days after.

The infected students have been either isolated or sent home, ABC News reported.

Second-year student Paul Monaghan told NBC News he learned about the outbreak through a mass email from the university's health services department.

"It's strange, because everybody gets vaccines a little after they're born. It's strange to think six kids have been sent home and possibly more will be infected."

Fordham officials said the students had prior vaccinations against the mumps.

"The immunity that's induced by the virus starts to wane. They believe that it holds until at least late teenage years, but then it starts to wane," Dr. Dana Saltzman, a disease specialist not affiliated with Fordham, told NBC News. "There's no way to predict who's going to lose their immunity or not." 

Vaccination against the mumps does not offer 100 percent protection, however it is still strongly recommended.

The contagious disease is spread from person to person through contact with respiratory secretions, such as saliva and sneeze droplets from an infected person.

Nearly 7,000 undergraduate students attend class at Fordham University's Rise Hill campus, and more than 3,000 live in campus housing, according to the school's Website.