HEALTH officials in south Cumbria are preparing to combat a shock rise in incidences of mumps among teenagers and young adults.

So far this year, there have been 475 notifications in Cumbria and Lancashire, compared with 52 in all of 2003. Most cases are said to involve people born between 1980 and 1991.

l In Cumbria, there have been 104 incidents to date.

l Lancashire has had 371 cases to date.

l In the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust area South Lakeland and Lancaster and Morecambe - there have been 16 cases this year, with a significant number reported from Lancaster University. Eight of the cases were reported in the past week.

l There have also been steep increases in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Merseyside. Throughout the North West, there have been 1,208 mumps notifications confirmed and unconfirmed cases - so far this year, compared with 182 in the same period last year, and 262 in the whole of 2003.

Mumps is an infectious viral disease. Glands in the neck become swollen and painful. Symptoms include fever, headache, tenderness in the neck and running nose and eyes particularly in young children.

It can have serious complications including a mild form of meningitis; ear infections; inflammation of the pancreas; swelling of the testicles in adult men; and inflammation of the ovaries in women. In very rare cases, it can result in infertility in men.

PCT chief executive Leigh Griffin said: "Numbers can vary from year to year, and we know that last year the figures were very low. However, we would strongly encourage people to take up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine."

The PCT's public health staff are specifically targeting Lancaster University students in an attempt to stem the increase. Public health specialist Carole Wood said a full vaccination programme is being prepared and will be taken to Lancaster as soon as possible.

The vaccination exercise will be open to all students who will be contacted through their e-mail addresses. They will be told about the risk of mumps to enable them to make an informed decision about being immunised.

"They are adults so it is up to them," she said. "We will take the programme to them and the vaccinations will be free."

Although the PCT is receiving supplies of MMR vaccine from central supplies at no cost, there will be a staff cost in implementing the programme as it is an extra' in this year's expenditure on providing health care.

The Health Protection Agency in the North West described this year's figures as "a huge surge" and urged older teenagers and college-age people to seek advice about protecting themselves.

Professor Qutub Syed, the Health Protection Agency's North West director, said the resurgence was in teenagers and young adults who missed out on MMR when it was introduced in 1988.

"MMR is safe, proven and effective. It offers lifelong protection. And it's not just for young people. Anyone in a school or college environment who has not previously had two doses of the vaccine should seek protection."

Professor Syed urged people in these categories to consult their GPs about immunisation before going to universities or other further education or work establishments.

He went on: "Parents and guardians can help stamp out diseases such as mumps and measles by ensuring that children receive two doses of MMR by the age of five. Currently eight out of ten five year olds are immunised. If we can get the uptake rate above 95 per cent we will stop these potentially dangerous viruses circulating in the community."