THE Health Protection Agency has renewed its call for teenagers and young adults to protect themselves against mumps, after “alarming” new figures showed the North West is the worst hit area in England and Wales.
Confirmed cases of the condition soared from 395 in 2008 to 1,376 in 2009. More than 900 of those cases involved people aged 15-24.
The HPA wants everyone up to the age of 25 to contact their GP about having two doses of the MMR vaccine if they are currently unprotected.
Mumps is a serious condition which, on rare occasions, can prove fatal.
Symptoms include a painful inflammation and swelling of the salivary glands under one or both sides of the jaw, fever and headache.
Professor Qutub Syed, director of HPA North West, said: “These latest figures, which reveal how the North West compares with the rest of the country, make for alarming reading.
“We have seen an upsurge in the cases of mumps in the region and the evidence suggests that those unprotected people aged 15-24 are particularly vulnerable.
“For that reason we are re-doubling our efforts to educate young people that vaccination is important.”
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