A severe mumps outbreak is sweeping universities - with more than 7,000 cases reported since the summer.
The figure is three times as high as the number known to have contracted the condition in the same period last year.
It is thought a dip in the number of children getting MMR japs in the past 20 years is to blame.
Health chiefs are urging people to get vaccinated, warning that dodging jabs can be fatal.
Among the affected universities are Edinburgh, Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol.
Back in the late 1990s, disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield suggested there was a link between the MMR vaccination and autism - making many reluctant to get it done.
Simon Stevens, of NHS England, told the Daily Mail : "Mumps is infectious and causes serious health complications, and the stark rise in cases is another reminder that opting out of protective jabs like MMR is dangerous and can make preventable diseases fatal.
"Dangerous misinformation about vaccines and falling uptake are a public health time bomb."
Dr Doug Brown, of the British Society for Immunology, added: "To curb this continuing spread of mumps we need 95 per cent of people to be vaccinated – a target that the UK has not reached for some years – and we are now seeing the effects of this failure."
Mumps is a contagious viral infection that can be spotted by painful swellings under the ears.
It can lead to serious infections such as glandular fever and tonsillitis, and in extreme cases can turn to meningitis if it moves to the outer layer of the brain.
It is spread through droplets of saliva, in the same way that colds and flu are.
Generally the illness passes in one to two weeks, and patients are advised to get plenty of bed rest and fluids.
