Rise in mumps blamed on low MMR take-up

Health chiefs today warned teenagers and students to ensure they are fully vaccinated against mumps after a sharp rise in cases in the capital.

Universities and colleges have been put on alert after the Health Protection Agency reported 820 laboratory confirmed cases of mumps in London between January and September last year.

That is nearly double the 439 cases for the whole of 2008 and represents the sharpest rise since an epidemic five years ago.

Experts say the controversy over the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine is partly to blame for the number of cases among students and young adults.

Scares over the safety of the vaccine triggered by Dr Andrew Wakefield in 1998 led to many parents not fully vaccinating their children.

The General Medical Council last week found that Dr Wakefield had acted unprofessionally over his research which claimed a link between MMR and autism in children.

The vaccine should be given to children at the age of 13 months then again between the ages of three to five.

But many young people have not had the full two doses of the MMR jab making them more vulnerable to infection.

The Health Protection Agency is now urging people up to the age of 25 to consult their GP about having the MMR vaccine if they are unprotected.

Dr Graham Fraser, from the agency, said some people in this age group were either too old to have been routinely vaccinated or only had one dose.

He said: "The close mixing that occurs at university is ideal for student's social lives and also any infectious diseases they may be carrying.

"Mumps is therefore able to spread rapidly in those who are not fully immunised."