BACKGROUND The Global Polio Eradication Initiative plans for coordinated cessation of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) after interrupting all wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission, but many questions remain related to long-term poliovirus risk management policies. METHODS We used an integrated dynamic poliovirus transmission and stochastic risk model to simulate possible futures and estimate the he...

Type 1 wild-vaccine recombinant polioviruses were isolated from poliomyelitis patients in China from 1991 to 1993. We compared the sequences of 34 recombinant isolates over the 1,353-nucleotide (nt) genomic interval (nt 2480 to 3832) encoding the major capsid protein, VP1, and the protease, 2A. All recombinants had a 367-nt block of sequence (nt 3271 to 3637) derived from the Sabin 1 oral polio...

Previous studies have described poliovirus genomes in which the internal ribosome entry (IRES) for encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) is positioned between the P1 and P2-P3 open reading frames of the poliovirus genome. Although these dicistronic poliovirus genomes were replication competent, most exhibited evidence of genetic instability, and the EMCV IRES was deleted upon serial passage. One po...

Objective To describe the characteristics of compatible poliomyelitis cases and to assess the programmatic implications of clusters of such cases in India. Methods We described the characteristics of compatible poliomyelitis cases, identified clusters of compatible cases (two or more in the same district or neighbouring districts within two months), and examined their relationship to wild polio...

| The striking 50-year-long decline in the incidence of poliomyelitis has stalled in the past 7 years, which has led to calls for an urgent re-assessment of eradication and post-eradication campaign strategies. The current plan of eliminating the circulation of wild poliovirus so that further immunization will be unnecessary does not take into account recent scientific data and political realit...

The poliovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (3Dpol) contains a region of homology centered around the amino acid motif YGDD (amino acids 326 to 329), which has been postulated to be involved in the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Previous studies from this laboratory have used oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis to substitute the tyrosine amino acid at this motif with other amino acids ...

With the interruption of wild poliovirus transmission globally, the need for new policies to deal with the post-certification era will rapidly arise. New policies will be required in four areas: detection and notification of circulating polioviruses; biocontainment of wild, vaccine-derived and attenuated strains of poliovirus; vaccine stockpiles and response mechanisms; and routine immunization...

BACKGROUND Persistent wild-poliovirus transmission, particularly in India, has raised questions about the degree of mucosal immunity induced by oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in tropical countries. METHODS Excretion of vaccine poliovirus after challenge with OPV was measured in stool samples collected from children identified by the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance program in India during ...