10-fold hike in cases of mumps

There has been a tenfold increase in the number of cases of mumps reported in the past six months.

There were 1,485 cases reported to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre during the first half of this year, compared to 151 in the same period last year.

Specialist in public health medicine at the HPSC, Dr Suzanne Cotter, said they were dealing with a national outbreak.

“There are regular meetings taking place between the regional departments of public health in the HSE to identify what additional action can be taken,” she said.

Most cases continue to be seen in young people aged between 15 and 24, although 49 people in the 55-plus age group have been infected.

Dr Cotter said many of the recent outbreaks have been in schools and universities.

Mumps is an acute viral infection and it is more likely to spread where there is close personal interaction.

There were 42 cases of mumps reported to the HPSC during the last week of June.

Dr Cotter said the number of cases had been declining after reaching a peak of about 70 a week a number of months ago.

“We hope that over the summer months, particularly when the schools and colleges are closed, that there will be a further decline,” she said.

In the meantime, we would urge people who are incompletely vaccinated or not vaccinated to make sure they get the MMR that protects against measles and rubella as well as mumps.

The number of measles cases increased over the past six months to 58, up seven compared to the same period last year when there were 51, according to the HPSC.

There were three more cases of measles reported during the last week of June.

“We have had a number of different measles outbreaks — small outbreaks around the country, but they have all added up,” said Dr Cotter.