AN outbreak of mumps in Sandbach is alarming health chiefs, who are calling on teenagers to have the MMR jab. Scores of young people in the town are believed to have contracted the debilitating disease since the out-break in Sandbach School's sixth-form began in November. Five students at the school's sixth form have been confirmed as having the highly infectious virus, but many more young adults in the wider community have sought medical help for the condition, which can have serious complications. Both Sandbach School and Sand-bach High School had to cancel their BCG tuberculosis immunisation programmes because of the outbreak. Healthcare professionals are warning the outbreak could reach epidemic proportions among students. Young people aged between 16 and 25 are particularly vulnerable to infection. Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust director of public health Wendy Meredith said: 'When the infection gets into an unprotected student community it will spread, unless we do something to prevent it.' Sandbach School headteacher Peter Wiles said: 'We were supposed to be doing the BCG immunisation programme but, because of the mumps, it had to be stopped. 'Five pupils have been home because they had mumps. The youngest case we have had was in Year 9.' A spokesman for all-girls Sandbach High School would not confirm how many there had been infected but said: 'The problem has meant that we have postponed our BCG programme, which is not a particularly happy state of affairs and has left many people concerned.' One pupil of Sandbach School said worries of the spread of infection had caused fellow students to stay away from the classroom. A-level student Craig Oliver said: 'I caught the infection a couple of weeks before Christmas and there were a few people I knew who had it. 'But when I got better people were still a bit worried and didn't turn up to lessons because they thought they might catch it. 'There are normally between 15 and 20 people in my English lesson, but I turned up to find just two there.' Jean-Marc Leemanyan, 21, of Grange Way, Sandbach, has the virus and said: 'My neck is really inflamed and it is really uncomfortable. Unbearable is probably a better word.' The former Sandbach School pupil added: 'My neck movement is restricted and I haven't had a good night's sleep in days.' In a bid to slow the spread of the virus, which has increased six-fold in the space of a year, professionals from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are visiting schools in South Cheshire offering vaccination jabs. Dr Nick Phin, consultant in health protection with the HPA's Cheshire and Merseyside Unit, says children who did not take the double dose of individual vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in the late 1980s are under the biggest threat. He said: 'With notifications of mumps continuing to rise, I hope people will seize the opportunity to do something. It is a very unpleasant condition. 'Those who reach the age of 25 and have not had mumps are at a lower risk, but those who are worried should contact their GP.' | 
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