THREE secondary school pupils have been diagnosed with mumps and three more suspected cases are being investigated.

The confirmed cases are in older pupils at Turton High School who would not have received a second Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) injection as a young child or who were born before the controversial jab was introduced.

Health bosses are now making arrangements for hundreds of Turton pupils to be vaccinated -- if they want to be -- against the viral infection. They are liaising closely with the school to ensure that staff, pupils and parents can get information and advice.

Bolton's Director of Public Health, Jan Hutchinson, said: "These cases illustrate the importance of vaccination in combating what was once a much more common childhood illness."

A Turton High School spokesman said they could not comment on the health of individual pupils.

Mumps is generally a mild and self-limiting viral infection causing swelling of the salivary glands. It can sometimes cause serious complications such as meningitis, infection of the brain, deafness or sterility due to infection of the ovaries or testes. As well as seriously disrupting studies, mumps can lower immunity to other infections.

Bolton Primary Care Trust is making arrangements for any of the school's pupils in year 11 and in the Upper and Lower Sixth who wish to be vaccinated to receive an MMR vaccination.

Similar arrangements are being made by the Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust for pupils from their area attending Turton High School.

Mumps is spread by direct contact with saliva and discharges from the nose and throat of infected individuals.

The incubation period is between two to three weeks and it can be passed on to others from before the swelling of the glands until several days after its appearance.

The Department of Health recommends that all children and young people should receive two doses of MMR vaccine to provide protection against measles, mumps and rubella, because one in 10 children will not respond to the first dose.

But some parents in Bolton are opposed to the MMR vaccine because of fears that it could lead to autism and bowel disorders.