Menace of mumps returns

YOUNG people are being urged to get vaccinated to head off a potential mumps epidemic.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) North West is advising unprotected teenagers and adults up to the age of 25 across Greater Manchester to ask their family doctors for a jab with the MMR vaccine.

The advice is being issued in response to a sharp rise in mumps in teenagers and young adults.

The Agency recorded 27 cases in Greater Manchester in the past week, compared with the usual weekly average of 10 to 15 cases.

Dr Rosemary McCann, a consultant with the HPA said: “Teenagers and young adults who have not previously had two doses of MMR vaccine are vulnerable. They should consult their GPs and arrange to be protected now. It isn’t too late.

“Mumps is a serious disease that should not be taken lightly.

“It can be painful and it can lead to complications such as viral meningitis and inflammation of the testicles in men and the ovaries in women.”

Symptoms include painful inflammation and swelling of the salivary glands under one or both sides of the jaw, fever and headache.

In severe cases it can cause deafness or even death.

The upsurge in mumps in Greater Manchester coincides with a large current outbreak of measles across Cheshire.