Mumps

No. If an individual did not respond to the first two doses, they will probably not respond to a third.

It is safe to give a third dose of MMR vaccine if an individual cannot provide documentation.

In general, it takes 10-14 days to mount a response to a vaccine if it is the body's first exposure. Then it takes approximately seven days after the second exposure.

The potential for droplet (within three feet) contamination from nasal or oral secretions, or direct contact with saliva, when the case was in the infectious period and without the use of appropriate PPE - gloves and mask, would be considered exposed. There is not a specific length of time. Mumps is droplet spread and contagiousness is similar to influenza and rubella, less than measles and varicella.

No. Children under 12 months will have immunity from their mothers, if they are immune. At this time, IDPH is not recommending giving the first or second dose early.

No. At this time, IDPH is not recommending giving the second dose early. This may change if we start seeing disease in this age group.

No, it is the same strain seen in an outbreak in England. The current MMR vaccine covers this strain.

There have been many questions about why people, who have been vaccinated, are getting mumps. As you read through the examples that follow, keep these key points in mind.

• The mumps vaccine (part of the MMR vaccine) is about 95% effective.
• This means out of every 100 people vaccinated, 95 will be protected. However, the vaccine will not "take" in 5 people, and these people will remain susceptible to the disease.
• By comparison, the measles vaccine (also part of the MMR vaccine) is about 98% effective and the annual influenza vaccine is about 70-85% effective.

Example 1:

In a community of 100 people, 100% have been vaccinated. Everyone is exposed to mumps. What happens?

• 95 people (95%) in the community are protected by the vaccine and do not get mumps.
• 5 people (5%) in the community become ill with mumps because the vaccine did not "take".
• Of the 5 people who get mumps, all (100%) have been vaccinated.

Example 2:

In a community of 100, 98% have been vaccinated (a similar rate to what is being seen today in Iowa's K-12 schools and some colleges.) Thus 98 people are vaccinated and 2 people are not. Everyone is exposed to mumps. What happens?

• 93 people (95% of the 98 who are vaccinated) in the community are protected by the vaccine and do not get mumps.
• 5 people (5% of the 98 who are vaccinated) become ill with mumps because the vaccine did not "take".
• 2 people who have never been vaccinated get ill because they have no immunity to the disease.
• Of the 7 (5 vaccinated +2 unvaccinated) people who get mumps, 71% (5/7) were vaccinated. (This is similar to what is happening now in Iowa.)

Thus a large percent of the people with mumps have been vaccinated. This is expected in a highly vaccinated population when dealing with a vaccine that is 95% effective and a contagious disease like mumps. This does not mean that the vaccine is not working; in fact the mumps vaccine is working as expected.

There is no danger to a person if they receive additional vaccine or if they have actually had the disease in the past and then receives vaccination.