Mumps, whooping cough on rise in Northland

Jack Goodhue is back on his feet but three other All Blacks teammates have since come down with mumps.

Eight confirmed cases of mumps have recently been reported in school children in Dargaville.

With the school holidays approaching and Auckland in the grip of a mumps outbreak, health officials are calling for parents to keep their children up to date with immunisations and check their vaccination status.

Northland had 10 cases this year before the Dargaville cluster, but Auckland is grappling with its worst mumps epidemic in two decades.

More than 450 cases have been registered there this year, that number surging in the last month.

Meanwhile, there have been 48 notifications of whooping cough in Northland so far this year, compared to nine cases in 2016 and 36 in 2015.

Twenty five of the recent cases have been from Ngunguru, including a one-year old infant who was hospitalised.

Whooping cough (its medical name is pertussis) can be a very serious illness for babies and children, especially under one year of age, Northland Medical Officer of Health, Dr Virginia McLaughlin said.

Whooping cough cases have risen across New Zealand with 938 probable, confirmed and suspected cases in the country for the year to September 15.

Mumps recently gained international attention through members of the All Black squad getting it, Dr McLaughlin said.

The team's rookie centre, 22-year old Jack Goodhue, from Kawakawa, left a week late for the current Great Britain tour after picking up the illness in New Zealand.

Teammates Luke Romano, Ardie Savea and Rieko Ioane have since succumbed to the illness. The players were probably infectious before they felt sick.