Abstract
Response to: Pliaka V, Kyriakopoulou Z, Markoulatos P. Risks associated with the use of live-attenuated vaccine poliovirus strains and the strategies for control and eradication of paralytic poliomyelitis. Expert Rev. Vaccines 11(5), 609–628 (2012).
We compliment the investigators at the University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece for their meticulous dissertation addressing diverse issues to be addressed for global control of eradication of poliomyelitis Citation[1]. We share their concern about an emergence of several poliomyelitis-susceptible children among those who were living in poverty. In all probability, there would also be several susceptible elderly people aged 70 years or more who were never immunized for poliomyelitis during infancy or early childhood – inactivated or live poliovirus vaccines were not available at that time. They could have been infected while visiting polio-endemic areas like the two healthy adult British males, aged 62 and 65 years, who were afflicted with acute flaccid paralysis while they were on a holiday trip to Morocco Citation[2].
There might also be several poliomyelitis-susceptible children and adults who had received chemotherapy of malignancy or undergone organ transplantations. There will be several people who would lack antibodies to three polio viruses. Serologic evaluation of postchemotherapy pediatric patients with osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma in Piscataway, NJ, USA, pointed towards poliovirus 2 and 3 susceptibility requiring revaccination Citation[3].
In conclusion, cryptic cohorts of cryptic poliomyelitis-susceptible children or adults Citation[2,3] should not escape immunization and a surveillance of poliovirus immune status. Their persistence would defuse the effectiveness of the new inactivated poliovirus vaccine and/or any specific drugs against polioviruses Citation[1].
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References
- Pliaka V, Kyriakopoulou Z, Markoulatos P. Risks associated with the use of live-attenuated vaccine poliovirus strains and the strategies for control and eradication of paralytic poliomyelitis. Expert Rev. Vaccines 11(5), 609–628 (2012).
- Joce R, Wood D, Brown D, Begg N. Paralytic poliomyelitis in England and Wales, 1985–91. BMJ 305(6845), 79–82 (1992).
- Yu J, Chou AJ, Lennox A et al. Loss of antibody titers and effectiveness of revaccination in post-chemotherapy pediatric sarcoma patients. Pediatr. Blood Cancer 49(5), 656–660 (2007).