Epidemiological features of mumps, epidemiological surveillance and prevention in the world and in the Russian Federation at the present stage

Relevance. Despite the fact that mumps has been a vaccine-preventable infection for many years, it continues to be an urgent public health problem. Epidemiological surveillance and vaccine prophylaxis for mumps are carried out comprehensively together with measles and rubella. At the same time, mumps is given much less attention than measles and rubella.

Aim: to assess the epidemic situation of mumps in the world and in the Russian Federation, the coverage of vaccination, revaccination and the timeliness of their implementation in Russia. To compare the incidence of mumps, measles and rubella.

Materials and methods. A retrospective epidemiological analysis of the incidence of mumps in the world for the period 2012–2024 was carried out in comparison with the incidence of measles and rubella, as well as in the Russian Federation for the period 2007–2024, taking into account the distribution of the incidence of mumps and the structure of cases by age group. The coverage of preventive mumps vaccinations for the period 2012-2024 and the timeliness of vaccination for the period 2021–2024 in the Russian Federation are analyzed. The sample was taken from the World Health Organization database and from the federal statistical observation forms (No. 2, No. 6). The reliability of the differences was assessed using confidence intervals.

Results. The analysis showed that the incidence of mumps in the world and in the Russian Federation differs from the incidence of measles and rubella. In particular, the incidence increases do not always coincide, there are cyclical features and there are differences in the most epidemiologically significant age groups. The incidence of mumps in Russia, although at low numbers, tends to increase (the average annual growth rate is 7.8 %). The highest incidence rate is observed in the group of children aged 3–6 years (3.19 ± 0.22 per 100 thousand. of the corresponding population group), while the lowest incidence rate is in the group of children under 1 year of age (0.5 ± 0.17 per 100 thousand of the corresponding population group). It should be noted that the measles incidence rate is the highest in the group of children under 1 year of age. At the same time, the incidence of mumps among children under 1 year of age is growing at the highest rate of incidence (an increase rate of 4.6 %). The largest contribution to the structure of cases is made by groups of children aged 7–14 years and 3–6 years, the proportion of the total number of cases is 20.3 % and 19.9 %, respectively. The coverage of preventive vaccinations in the Russian Federation decreased against the background of the pandemic and by 2024 has not yet reached pre-pandemic values, while it should be noted that coverage is achieved only by 24 months. Revaccination coverage in 2023 and 2024 amounted to 71.27 % and 92.3 %, respectively.

Conclusion. The presence of an upward trend in the incidence of mumps, high levels of morbidity in children aged 3–6 and 7–14 years, as well as the greatest contribution of these age groups to the structure of cases indicate a worsening epidemic situation for this infection. To a certain extent, the reasons for the deterioration of the epidemic situation are late vaccination and insufficient vaccination coverage. At the same time, differences in the incidence of mumps from the incidence of measles and rubella require consideration of changing approaches to epidemiological surveillance and prevention of mumps.

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