By Doug Kennedy BBC News Online Scotland

Parents still have concerns about MMR

There have been 12 confirmed cases since the start of December, with a further 22 suspected cases.

This compares to a normal figure of one or two cases annually and public health officials have contacted GPs to alert them to the situation.

There is no licensed single vaccine against mumps. It is feared a drop in uptake of the triple MMR vaccine amid fears of a link to autism could be to blame.

Dr Syed Ahmed, consultant in public health with Greater Glasgow Health Board, said it was a worrying development.

"This very much higher than normal as we normally have one or two confirmed cases in a year and I suspect that most of these cases will be confirmed," said Dr Ahmed.

It can and will probably get worse and as the number of cases goes up Dr Syed Ahmed Consultant in public health

He said the suspected cases have mostly affected the 16-24 age group, who would not have had the controversial measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.

But he warned of an increased danger of infection for infants and urged parents to consider the combined jab.

"It can and will probably get worse and, as the number of cases goes up, sooner or later you will have younger cases in children who have not had the combined MMR vaccine.

"The danger is that mumps is one of the most common causes of viral meningitis and there is no licensed single vaccine.

"The message to parents is that mumps is around and although I appreciate the concern over MMR it is the only way to protect children."

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Mumps begins with fever, tiredness and painful swelling of the parotid salivary glands.

Symptoms include headache, neck stiffness, vomiting and dislike of light.

Figures released in October showed that incidences of suspected mumps in Scotland reported by doctors rose by 27% in children under 15.

At the same time vaccination rates for MMR were found to be running at their lowest levels for at least eight years.

Some parents have been reluctant to use the three-in-one jab following fears that it could be linked to a rise in childhood autism.

Dr Peter Copp is medical director of GP Plus, which provides single vaccines as well as the triple vaccination.

Single vaccines

He said: "If there are insufficient numbers of children protected then we are going to see this problem re-emerging.

"We have seen mumps outbreaks down in England within the last couple of years.

"It happened down there, so it was bound to happen north of the border at some point."

He said some parents were either choosing not to have their children vaccinated or were going for the single vaccines.

"The difficulty with that is that single mumps vaccines are very difficult to get hold of for an inexplicable reason, so there are children who are protected against measles and rubella but not against mumps," he said.

He said this affected a relatively small number of children.