There has been an alarming rise in mumps cases during the current season. A virus which spreads via saliva, mumps is responsible for causing infection in various parts of the body such as the parotid salivary glands. Patients who fall prey to this virus complain of fever, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite and headaches.

If left untreated and unattended, mumps can also progress to cause much more serious problems like deafness, pregnancy loss, swelling in certain areas of the body, including the brain.

Mumps can be prevented via a dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, also known as MMR.

In most cases, mumps last for a maximum of a week.

A highly contagious and very painful virus, mumps causes significant swelling in front of the ears and below, and is also called parotitis.

As the cases of the virus rise in the Cheshire area, teenagers are now being advised by the Health Protection Agency to guard themselves against the disease with proper vaccination.

"We have seen a sharp rise in the figures this year and teenagers and young adults who have not had two doses of MMR vaccine are particularly vulnerable", said Prof. Qutub Syed, Director of HPA North West.