Background and objective: The aim of this study was to describe the evolution of serologically confirmed cases of mumps in the Madrid Community from 2000 to 2006.
Patients and method: Cases with data about age, sex and with samples obtained < or = 30 days after the onset of symptoms were included. IgM determination was performed by indirect ELISA (Enzygnost Mumps; Dade Behring). IgM positive cases were considered as confirmed.
Results: Information was available from 1,173 cases. Two hundred and fifty two of them (21.5%) were confirmed. The percentage of confirmed cases by year ranged between 21.4% and 27.2% (except for 2003 [10.7%], and 2004 [2.1%]). In the first years most confirmed cases corresponded to children (85.7% in 2000 and 68.6% in 2001) while in last years it was the opposite (10.7% in 2005 and 23.4% en 2006).
Conclusions: These results indicate the appearance of 2 epidemic waves (in 2000--2002 and in 2005--2006). Currently, mumps should not be considered an exclusively pediatric disease.