Written question asked by Neil Turner (Labour) on Tuesday, 19 May 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 June 2009. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Thursday, 4 June 2009 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Measles, Mumps and Rubella

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reported cases of (a) mumps, (b) measles and (c) rubella there were in each year since 1997.

Answer

The information supplied by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) is shown in the following table.

All laboratory confirmed cases of measles, mumps and rubella, England and Wales, 1997 to 2008
	Measles	Mumps	Rubella
1997	177	182	117
1998	56	121	119
1999	92	373	162
2000	100	730	62
2001	70	784	45
2002	319	500	64
2003	437	1,541	16
2004	188	8,129	14
2005	78	43,378	29
2006	740	4,420	34
2007	990	1,476	35
2008¹	1,370	2,440	27
¹ Provisional totals.
Notes:
1. Measles and mumps includes those confirmed by testing serum and by oral fluid
2. Rubella includes serum confirmed from 1997, but since 1998 includes both serum and oral fluid.
3. From February 2005, the HPA recommended that, during the period of increased mumps incidence, oral fluid sample should not be taken from individuals with clinical mumps who are born between 1981 and 1986, and they should be managed as if they were confirmed cases. For the purpose of reporting, all notified cases of mumps in this 15 to 24-year-old age group are being counted as confirmed.

Secondary information