Wednesday, March 11, 2009
THE number of reported mumps cases has spiralled to 848 since January, compared with just 62 for the same period last year.
Already this year, there have been 16 outbreaks of mumps reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, compared with 26 in all of 2008.
There were 18 outbreaks of mumps in third-level institutions last year, seven in schools and one in a creche.
The huge rise in cases, especially at third level, has been blamed on the low uptake by students of the free vaccine provided by the Health Service Executive through student services and GPs.
So far this year, at least 14 cases — all male — have been hospitalised as a result of mumps infection, mainly because of inflammation of the testes, called orchitis.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre is urging teenagers and young adults to ensure they are properly protected against the disease.
Public health medicine specialist Dr Suzanne Cotter said young people need two doses of the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), or to have previously had the mumps.
Dr Cotter said it appeared that relatively few students were taking up the offer of the free vaccine, despite previous alerts about getting protected against the disease.
"We have seen an ongoing increase in mumps throughout 2008 and now 2009, especially in third-level colleges," she pointed out.
"With nearly 60% of cases of mumps reported among 15 to 24-year-olds, our best line of defence is to ensure that young people are vaccinated," she emphasised.
Dr Cotter said many young people had been severely affected by mumps since the outbreak began, leading to missed work and lectures, with potentially serious consequences for academic performance and interference with exams.
"Everybody who has not had two doses of the vaccine should be vaccinated and anyone who is not sure about their vaccination status needs to get another dose to be on the safe side," she pointed out.
The public health watchdog does not know how many people are incompletely vaccinated at national level.
It found, however, that more than half of the 336 people who had the mumps last year and reported their vaccine status were either not vaccinated or incompletely vaccinated.
It is still possible to get the mumps while vaccinated because the jab is not 100% effective, but it does offer between 80% and 95% protection to those who have received two doses.
* www.ndsc.ie/hpsc
The symptoms
* Mumps is a contagious viral illness that causes fever, headache and painful swollen glands.
* Complications are usually mild but it can cause meningitis, deafness and inflammation of the testicles, ovaries or pancreas.
* Anyone who has mumps should stay at home for five days after the onset of swollen glands.
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