MMR

Mumps cases in England rise to highest level in a decade

Total of 5,042 is four times that in 2018 as health experts urge people to catch up on vaccine

The number of recorded cases of mumps in England has soared to the highest level in a decade.

There were 5,042 cases in 2019 – four times the number in 2018. Many of these were as a result of outbreaks in universities and colleges, and most were in young adults who did not have the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab.

A large number of the 2019 cases were people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s who missed out on the MMR vaccine when they were children.

In 1998, the doctor Andrew Wakefield led a study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. His work was subsequently discredited and he was struck off, but uptake of the vaccine dropped to about 80% in the late 1990s and to a low of 79% in 2003.

Public Health England (PHE) is urging people to have both parts of the vaccine, saying the full two doses are needed to maximise protection. The vaccine prevents most, though not all, cases of mumps.

There were also increases in mumps cases in Scotland and Wales last year.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, of PHE, said it was never too late to catch up on immunisation. “We encourage all students and young people who may have missed out on their MMR vaccine in the past to contact their GP practice and get up to date as soon as possible,” she told the BBC.