The outbreak of infectious parotitis that has stricken Moldova could have been prevented, considers ex-Health Minister Dr. Mihai Magdei. The real cause of the epidemic lies in the mistakes made by the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Preventive Medicine in the period 2006-2007, the ex-minister told Info-Prim Neo. Dr. Magdei refutes the statements of some health officials that the roots of this epidemic originate in the 90s. While the latter claim that the disease has stricken mostly the youth in the age group 15-29, because they weren’t included in vaccination lists between early 90s and 2001, the former minister says all the consequences of the public health system crisis in the 90s were dealt with in 2000-2001. Mumps has stricken the youth because they haven’t been vaccinated since 2004 until present days, the ex-minister asserts. At the same time, Dr. Magdei believes that the epidemic could have been ended in a short period of time and the number of mumps cases wouldn’t have soared to over 13,000, had the revaccination taken place earlier. Had the Ministry of Health assessed the situation correctly, mumps shots could have been ordered and a revaccination campaign could have started in November-December. The shortage of funds set forth by the Government as a reason for not managing to conduct the revaccination campaign earlier is a very poor argument since 10 million lei were earmarked in 2006 and other 17 million lei in 2007 for flu immunization. Although late, the revaccination campaign is utterly necessary in order to prevent a new epidemic from breaking out in four years, says Dr. Magdei, adding that mumps will continue to be widespread for one, one and a half month more until the revaccination campaign grows to its full extent. The first 40,000 doses of the vaccine have already arrived in Chisinau, with other 40,000 shots expected to arrive until the end of the next week. Mumps, also known as infectious parotitis, spreads like the common cold, through sneezes and coughs, and from shared surfaces. The incubation period ranges from 2 to 3 weeks. The disease is not usually life threatening, but it can have serious complications like meningitis, myocarditis, pancreatitis, and sterility, especially in teenagers. The most common symptoms are the inflammation of the saliva glands, fever and pain from swollen glands. Mumps can be prevented trough measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination received as two shots at the age of 12 months and 6-7 years. A nationwide mumps immunization campaign targeting the 12-15-months age group was conducted in 1983. In the 90s, during the economic crisis, vaccines were very hard to get, and that led to a mumps outbreak in 1996-1997. In 2000, public health officials concluded that a single shot didn’t produce the desired result and decided to re-immunize children at the age of 7.