Mumps Seroprevalence in Vellore, South India: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The mumps vaccine remains excluded from India's National Immunization Schedule (NIS) because of insufficient data on the community-level disease burden, despite mumps being a vaccine-preventable disease. In the present study, biobanked serum samples from an urban population in Vellore, stratified by age (in age groups of 1-5, 6-15, and 16-40 years) and sex, were tested for anti-mumps IgG antibodies using ELISA. The seroprevalence rates of mumps were 26%, 71%, and 84% in the 1- to 5-year, 6- to 15-year, and 16- to 40-year age groups, respectively, indicating a high burden in the community. Women in the 16- to 40-year age group exhibited a higher seroprevalence compared with males, with antibody levels consistently lower in males across both the 6- to 15-year and 16- to 40-year age groups (P <0.05). The present study highlights increasing mumps exposure with age and underscores the urgent need to include the mumps vaccine in the NIS to address the high disease burden and prevent complications.