700% rise in mumps cases in Northern Ireland down to vaccine cycle

The Public Health Agency has said a rise of 700% in mumps cases in Northern Ireland is partly due to the vaccine becoming less effective over time.

Northern Ireland Public Health Agency’s Dr Jillian Johnston said that most of the cases were children and young adults aged between 15 and 24, who had had two doses of the MMR vaccine, adding that there is a rise in cases every two to three years as the mumps strand of the vaccine becomes less effective.

She went on to say “We expect to see a rise in mumps activity every two to three years and that’s what we’re seeing at the moment.

“We know that the mumps component of the vaccine decreases and becomes less effective over time. So every two or three years the number of people who are susceptible to getting mumps increases and that’s what’s happening.

“We would expect to see that trajectory and increase for the first six months of this year, then for the second half of the year we would expect to see a decline. We would like them to be lower and that’s why we want people to make sure they have had two doses of MMR.”

The revelation coincides with the recent news that cases of mumps in England have reached their highest level in a decade.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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