Students who are not immunised are being offered the MMR vaccine

There have also been 21 suspected cases at the south-west London based university in the last month, with four of them in just the last week.

The South West London Health Protection Unit is working with staff to help prevent further cases of the viral infection.

Any student who had not been immunised before, is being offered the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Immunisation sessions

The university has held immunisation sessions during recent weeks and more sessions will be held as needed.

Dr Emma Crawley-Boevey at the South West London Health Protection Unit, said: "We strongly recommend that students at the university who have not been immunised with two doses of MMR take this opportunity to ensure adequate protection from measles, mumps and rubella."

Michele Barbour, counselling co-ordinator at the university's health centre said there had been a good response to the immunisation programme.

"The vaccination clinics have been popular and a total of 548 vaccinations have now been carried out," she said.

Symptoms of mumps include headache, earache and a slight fever followed by painful swelling of the face around the cheeks and jaw.