Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Vaccine 2007 Jun 11;25(24):4651-8

Investigation of mumps vaccine failures in Minsk, Belarus, 2001-2003.

Atrasheuskaya AV, Blatun EM, Kulak MV, Atrasheuskaya A, Karpov IA, Rubin S, Ignatyev GM

Atrasheuskaya AV (reprint author), State Res Ctr Virol & Biotechnol Vector, Lab Immunol Safety, Novosibirsk 630559, Russia State Res Ctr Virol & Biotechnol Vector, Lab Immunol Safety, Novosibirsk 630559, Russia Hosp Infect Dis, Minsk 220050, Byelarus State Med Univ, Dept Infect Dis, Minsk 220116, Byelarus US FDA, Ctr Biol Evaluat & Res, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA

The purpose of this study was to investigate mumps vaccine failures (VF) in a highly vaccinated population of Minsk, Belarus, and to investigate a possible role for virus strain-specific immunity. During our 3-year study period, 22 adults were admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Minsk with a diagnosis of mumps. A genotype H1 mumps virus (MuV) strain was identified in all patients. Of 15 patients from whom the paired sera were collected, 9 were confirmed to have been previously vaccinated. Serological examinations indicated primary VF in seven of these cases and secondary VF in two. Despite almost all vaccinated patients possessing MuV specific IgG, few possessed neutralizing antibody to the vaccine strain and titers were nominal. Importantly, none of the sera were able to neutralize a genotype H MuV strain. Our results demonstrate the importance of assaying for neutralizing antibody and support the assertion that antigenic differences between wild type and vaccine MuV strains may play a role in cases of breakthrough infection in vaccinees.