NEARLY two thousand students have been vaccinated against mumps as the number of cases more than doubled in the region.

A mass vaccination drive has been under way at three university campuses after a sudden increase in mumps cases, which has continued into a second week.

Public health doctors said yesterday that another 66 cases were reported in the region in the week ending November 19, compared to 61 in the previous week.

Experts are hoping that the immunisation drive targeted at university campuses will contain the outbreak.

Last week, NHS officials moved swiftly to offer free mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) triple vaccines to students at the universities of Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria. Young people in their late teens and early 20s are particularly vulnerable because they will have missed out on MMR vaccinations while they were younger, and students are also thought to be particularly at risk because many live a communal lifestyle.

Mumps is a viral infection spread by airborne saliva droplets from the nose or throat, requiring close contact before infection can occur.

Symptoms, including discomfort caused by facial swelling and high temperature usually emerge within two days.

In mild cases the swelling lasts three to four days, but it can go on for a week or more.

In about 20 to 30 per cent of cases in adult men, the disease infects the testicles, causing swelling, pain and soreness. This is a potential cause of sterility.

So far, officials say that nearly 2,000 students have been vaccinated at the two Tyneside universities, with more students immunised at Durham.

So far this year, the region has seen far less mumps cases than last year, but public health officials decided to act after the weekly total began to rise from about 14 a week in mid-October to 51 in early November, then 61, then the most recent figure of 66.

Dr Kirsty Forster, consultant in public health at Newcastle Primary Care Trust, said: "There was a very good turnout at the clinics we held on Monday and Tuesday this week, and nearly 2,000 students were given the MMR vaccine.

"Another clinic has been organised for undergraduates under 30 at both universities on Tuesday, in the Student Union building at Northumbria University, between 10am and 6pm."