Recent increases in mumps incidence in Australia: the “forgotten” age group in the 1998 Australian Measles Control Campaign

To the Editor: We concur with Aratchige and colleagues that mumps in young adults is a “forgotten” disease,1 and believe that mumps control in Australia has suffered from both the successes and failures of our measles elimination program. Among residents of Sydney’s eastern and southern suburbs, 100 cases of mumps were notified in the second half of 2007. Sixty-three per cent of those who contracted the disease were aged 20–29 years, and 65% were male. This compares with an average of 13.6 cases (range, 4–32 cases) notified per annum from 1999 to 2006.