 Students are being urged to get vaccinated |
People aged between 15 and 25 are being urged to get immunised against mumps after an epidemic among university students. More than 63 students at Loughborough University have been diagnosed with the disease, while 22 cases were recorded at Derby University in May.
A change in the vaccination programme in the 1980s means some young people are not immunised.
A series of vaccination sessions will be held over the next few weeks.
Airborne virus
John Ford from the Charnwood and North Leicestershire Primary Care Trust said: "It is usually a mild disease that causes mild discomfort.
"But it can have serious problems with some sufferers who might develop viral meningitis or swelling of the pancreas or the ovaries and testes.
"We have decided to go for a mass immunisation programme on the campus as the most effective way to control the spread of the infection."
The mumps virus is airborne and has a three-week incubation period.
The symptoms can also include a painful swelling of the salivary glands.
People remain infectious three or four days before the swelling appears and up to five days after it disappears.
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