Two institutional outbreaks of mumps have been analyzed with the aid of the complement-fixation reaction. The data indicate that mumps occurred only in children who failed to react significantly with the V-antigen at the onset of the epidemic. About 30% to 40% of all infections remained inapparent according to the clinical data of the outbreaks studied, or the records of past mumps. A few children with low antibody levels to both V- and S-antigens developed an increase in anti-V but not in anti-S, a type of response noted not infrequently following skin tests or subcutaneous vaccination. In one of the schools (M) no children were left at the end of the epidemic period who failed to react with the V-antigen. At School D at least eight of the children showed no serologic evidence of recent or past infection. Possible explanations for these various data are discussed.
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