Mumps scare at college

Students at a London university were today urged to attend emergency immunisation clinics after a mumps outbreak.

Twenty suspected cases were reported at Kingston University and five students have already been diagnosed with the highly contagious virus.

Mumps causes swelling of the neck and face, fever and earache, as well as deafness and severe abdominal pain in more serious cases. In males over 12 it can lead to sterility in rare cases.

More cases at the university are suspected, leading to fears of a repeat of the last scare there in 2005, when more than 500 staff and students were given emergency vaccinations.

One male student who contracted the disease said: "It was so painful, one of my testicles became inflamed and swelled to three times the size. I had been vaccinated but still caught it."