Cases of Mumps Soaring Across UK

According to this news report, two British Medical Journal (BMJ) papers find that the United Kingdom (UK) is experiencing a surge in mumps cases.

In the first paper, investigators at the Health Protection Agency report that, in 2004, the number of cases of mumps recorded in England and Wales hit 16,436, up from 4,204 in 2003. In January 2005 alone, the epidemic struck nearly 5,000 people. Most of those who have caught the virus are aged 19 to 23; they were born before the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine became routine in 1988.

However, cases are also cropping up in children who have not been vaccinated, possibly due to vaccine safety fears. In the second paper, Dr. Ravindra Gupta (from London's Guy's and St Thomas'), working with colleagues from King's College London, found that cases have also occurring in very young children who would have been eligible for the vaccine. Dr Gupta's group indicates that uptake of MMR among 2-year-olds in the UK fell from around 92% in early 1995 to around 80% in 2003/4. In some parts of London, as few as 60% of 2-year-olds had received a first dose of MMR.

A spokeswoman for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said that the department "has alerted GPs [general practitioners] 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." She indicated that, as part of a catch-up campaign for those who missed out on MMR, some higher education establishments are offering special MMR sessions to protect students against mumps; the department supplies vaccine and printed leaflets for these sessions.

This article is part of a multi-media, participatory experience on the BBC website. In addition to an audio/visual presentation called "Why young adults are particularly at risk", the BBC offers an interactive feature that encourages and enables people to write in to voice questions and concerns in response to the article: "Are you concerned about the mumps epidemic? Have you been affected? Send us your comments on the form below..." Comments are posted on the webpage, beneath the article. In addition to many postings from citizens, some of whom have or have had mumps, one note reads, "I am a GP - we have been told by the immunisation team, Department of Health - there is a shortage of MMR vaccines in the country and that we are unable to give these to teenagers - we are only allowed to immunise children at 13 months and at 5 years at the moment! Obviously Patricia Hewitt needs to found out more about her department..."