ABSTRACT
Measles, mumps and rubella are vaccine preventable diseases. However, morbidity and mortality due to these diseases remain largely unnoticed in India. Measles has received much attention; mumps and rubella still need to garner attention. According to the World Health Organization, near-elimination of mumps could be achieved by maintaining high vaccine coverage using a two-dose strategy. However, Government of India has not yet decided on mumps vaccine. In this review, we have reviewed sero-prevalence studies, vaccine studies, outbreak investigations, virus isolation and virus genotyping studies on mumps. Overall, mumps seems to be a significant public health problem in India, but does not garner attention due to the absence of a surveillance and documentation system. Thus, inclusion of mumps antigen in the Universal immunization program would have added advantages, the economic burden imposed by the cost of the vaccine offset by a reduction in disease burden.