Dramatic rise in mumps cases
Health professionals are warning that Britain is facing a major mumps epidemic due to children being under-immunised.
Faced with figures showing an eighteen-fold increase in the number of reported cases, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) warned an outbreak could be on the cards.
Two studies published in the British Medical Journal highlighted a sharp rise in the number of outbreaks among children and young people.
A separate study by researchers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust claimed Britain was “in the grip of a nationwide mumps epidemic”.
Some 28,470 cases were recorded in the first four months of the year, most of which were real instances of mumps, HPA said.
The figure was 1,811 over the same period in 2004 and 1,452 in 2003.
The HPA warned people aged 19 to 23 were particularly vulnerable as many youngsters had missed vaccinations when they were babies.
Parents have been wary about the combined triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccination (MMR), first introduced in 1988, after fears of a link with autism.
A Department of Health (DoH) spokesman said yesterday: “The outbreaks are occurring as a number of older teenagers and young adults are not protected against mumps.
“This is because they were too old to be immunised with MMR as part of routine childhood immunisation.
“The DoH has alerted GPs to the risk posed by mumps to young adults and recommends that every effort should be made to ensure that all children are fully immunised even if they are older than the recommended age range.
The spokesman added that all young adults who have not received MMR or only received one dose should ensure they are properly immunised.
