Q. I frequently come across to measles vaccinated male children having suffered from mumps. What is the place for MMR vaccine in these children?

Dr. Goyal states that he has come across mumps in boys who had previously been immunized with measles vaccine. The imme-diate question is if this is mere coincidence or if there is any basis for an association between measles immunized boys and mumps. I can categorically say that there is no association between mumps incidence and measles immunization, either in boys or in girls. Thus, this experience is a mere coincidence.

Dr. Goyal wishes to know if there is any role for MMR vaccine in these children. If a child had already received measles vaccine and had developed mumps, then he/she is now susceptible to only rubella among the trio. In the case of girls, it is worth protecting against future rubella (during adulthood), for which purpose either rubella vaccine alone or a dose of MMR vaccine could be offered. In the case of boys, rubella per se is not an important issue for prevention, and since measles and mumps are now covered, there is little justification for MMR vaccine.

The day is not too far in the future when we will want to give a second dose of measles vaccine to all children, and in this situation we could either give measles vaccine alone or MMR to boys who have had one dose of measles vaccine and an episode of mumps in the past.