Western Cheshire PCT calls for increase in MMR jabs after mumps outbreak at Upton High School in Chester

Feb 11 2010 by Ben Coulbeck, Chester Chronicle

Western Cheshire PCT calls for increase in MMR jabs after mumps outbreak at Upton High School in Chester

HEALTH bosses have called for pupils across west Cheshire to receive the MMR jab after an outbreak of mumps at a Chester school.

Two students at Upton High’s sixth form were sent home from school with the viral disease last week and letters were sent to every pupil’s home.

It brings this year’s total of mumps cases in Cheshire to eight – already almost double the number recorded in 2009.

Western Cheshire PCT is urging all parents to make sure their children are vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) after it was also confirmed that the North West was the worst-hit area of England.

An NHS Western Cheshire spokeswoman said: “The letter has been prompted by two cases of mumps among pupils at the school.

“It has been a relatively uncommon illness since the MMR vaccination was introduced but there has recently been a significant rise in the number of cases of mumps in the 16-25 year age group.

“There were five case of mumps in western Cheshire in 2009 and there have been eight so far in 2010.”

Mumps is a viral illness transmitted by direct contact with saliva or droplets from the saliva of an infected person

Symptoms start with a headache and fever before swelling of the neck while complications include swelling of the ovaries or testes, meningitis and deafness.

Health Protection Agency North West director Professor Qutub Syed warned that outbreaks of mumps could also affect people over the age of 25.

He said: “These latest figures 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.

“But it is not merely students who are at risk. We would advise everyone up to the age of 25 to consult their family doctor about having two doses of the MMR vaccine if they are currently unprotected.”