Research and analysis

Mumps: notifications and confirmed cases by oral fluid testing in England, 2013 to 2022 by quarter

Updated 21 September 2022

Applies to England and Wales

Following the Measles-Rubella (MR) school campaign in November 1994 the Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency) predecessor (PHLS) has offered oral fluid testing to confirm the diagnosis on all notified cases of measles, mumps and rubella. This is part of the enhanced surveillance programme for these vaccine-preventable diseases.

The table below shows only the cases confirmed by oral fluid IgM antibody tests or PCR in each quarter compared to the number of notified cases.

Year Quarter Uncorrected notified cases Number tested % Number positive %
2022 2* 1,123 665 59.2% 7 1.1%
2022 1 880 309 35.1% 10 3.2%
2021 4 1,224 1,042 85.1% 7 0.7%
2021 3 858 731 85.2% 0 0.0%
2021 2 677 547 80.8% 2 0.4%
2021 1 482 446 92.5% 0 0.0%
2020 4 633 490 77.4% 3 0.6%
2020 3 738 94[footnote 1] 12.7% 2 2.1%
2020 2 1,570 377[footnote 1] 24.0% 88 23.3%
2020 1 11,189 5,123 45.8% 2,556 49.9%
2019 4 5,564 2,850 51.2% 1,116 39.2%
2019 3 3,304 2,256 68.3% 681 30.2%
2019 2 5,847 3,635 62.2% 1,883 51.8%
2019 1 2,590 2,169 83.7% 731 33.7%
2018 4 1,712 1,241 72.5% 162 13.1%
2018 3 1,431 1,012 70.7% 180 17.8%
2018 2 1,851 1,256 67.9% 307 24.4%
2018 1 1,751 1,195 68.2% 187 15.6%
2017 4 1,800 1,276 70.9% 174 13.6%
2017 3 1,645 1,068 64.9% 271 25.4%
2017 2 2,376 1,607 67.6% 660 41.1%
2017 1 1,902 1,151 54.8% 216 18.8%
2016 4 1,451 1,017 70.1% 94 9.2%
2016 3 951 714 75.1% 57 8.0%
2016 2 1,316 977 74.2% 112 11.5%
2016 1 1,442 1,075 74.5% 71 6.6%
2015 4 1,745 1,177 67.4% 72 6.1%
2015 3 1,115 871 78.1% 65 7.5%
2015 2 1,611 996 61.8% 179 18.0%
2015 1 1,643 1,413 86.0% 151 10.7%
2014 4 1,486 1,192 80.2% 87 7.3%
2014 3 1,477 1,078 73.0% 233 21.6%
2014 2 3,214 2,053 63.9% 784 38.2%
2014 1 2,743 2,142 78.1% 736 34.4%
2013 4 2,365 1,765 74.6% 450 25.5%
2013 3 1,858 1,169 62.9% 391 33.4%
2013 2 4,103 2,425 59.1% 1,072 44.2%
2013 1 3,011 1,399 46.5% 543 38.8%

*provisional data

Source: Notifications of Infectious Diseases, UK Health Security Agency.

To view data from 1995 to 2012, view the UK Government Web Archive.

  1. In 2020 some HPTs did not have the capacity to send out oral fluid kits to all suspected mumps cases due to COVID-19 pressure.  2