Mumps outbreak among young adults in UK

The clinical review by Gupta and colleagues in this issue (p 293) is a timely reminder to clinicians who may have little experience with mumps infection and its complications. Following the United Kingdom's 1988 introduction of routine infant measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination, and the addition of a second routine dose of MMR vaccine in 1996, mumps became a rare disease in the UK, with a few hundred reports of mumps annually during the 1990s. Reported mumps cases in England and Wales increased to about 4000 in 2003, however, and to over 16 000 reported cases in 2004 (31.1 cases per 100 000 population).1 Cases have continued to be reported in 2005, predominantly among young adults aged 19 to 23 who were too old to have received two doses of MMR vaccine in the national vaccination program.1