A new mumps immunisation campaign will start in February, Info-Prim Neo reports. The announcement was made by Health Minister Ion Ababii at a news conference on Tuesday, January 29. According to the Minister, within three weeks shots will be given to 150,000 young persons in the age group 13-24, who are the most likely to develop mumps unless immunised. Overall, 600,000 shots will be purchased until the end of the current school-year. Ion Ababii said finding the vaccine was a very difficult task, especially as it is produced in limited amounts, just to fit a country’s needs. To get it, Moldova appealed for help to international organisations. The total cost of the revaccination campaign is estimated at 13 million lei, an unaffordable expenditure for the state budget for public health, which, in all, provides for only 7.8 million lei for the purchase of 10 types of vaccines. To collect the necessary amount, the Government’s Reserve Fund, the local authorities and the National Health Insurance Company will need to contribute, the Minister said. Ion Bahnarel, director of the National Centre for Preventive Medicine (NCPM), announced that the children on the left side of the Nistru will be revaccinated too. The population will be immunised by means of a tri-vaccine which will ensure a protection against mumps, measles and rubella for a period of 5-7 years. Produced in India and certified by the WHO, the vaccine is effective and innocuous, Bahnarel remarked. According to the head of the NCPM Epidemiology Division, Anatol Melnic, a mumps immunisation 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-immunise children at the age of 7. According to NCPM statistics, since the beginning of the year, the number of mumps reports topped 3,600. Some 80 percent of infected persons were teenagers and adults in the age group 15-24. Two-thirds of these had received a single shot in childhood. Mumps cases were reported in all Moldova’s district, except two - Soroca and Ocnita. The worst-stricken areas are the municipality of Chisinau, and the districts of Comrat, Orhei, Anenii Noi, Hancesti and Ialoveni. Some 50 percent of people that caught mumps were hospitalised to prevent complications. The rest have been given outpatient care. Mumps, also known as infectious parotitis, spreads like a common cold, through sneezes and coughs, and from shared surfaces. The most common symptoms are the inflammation of the saliva glands, fever and pain from swollen glands. The disease is not usually life threatening, but it can have serious complications like meningitis, myocarditis, and sterility, especially in teenagers. Doctors warn the population to consult a physician when the first symptoms occur.