Speaker: Joseph Lewnard
Joe Lewnard is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He is also a Fellow of the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative, Centre for Health Security, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Title: Mumps re-emergence in vaccinated populations
Abstract:
Following enthusiasm that the United States would eliminate indigenous mumps transmission by the year 2010, the past decade has seen a considerable increase in mumps incidence, in particular among young adults. In contrast to experience with measles, a large majority of cases and outbreaks have occurred among vaccine-compliant individuals and communities. I present evidence from meta-analysis, modeling, and whole genome sequencing that together suggest waning of vaccine-derived immunity provides a more likely explanation for the ongoing resurgence in cases than the emergence of vaccine-escape strains. I present new modeling work addressing the dynamics of an outbreak among school-aged children in Northwest Arkansas—among whom vaccine waning is inadequate to account for sustained incidence—and consider designs for evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of extended-dose vaccine series.
Please contact Ada Yan at a.yan@imperial.ac.uk if you have questions about attending the seminar.