title: Molecular detection of an importation of type 3 wild poliovirus into Canada from The Netherlands in 1993.
abstract: During the fall and winter of 1992-1993 an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 3-associated poliomyelitis involving 71 patients occurred in The Netherlands. Almost all of the individuals involved in the outbreak belonged to an orthodox religious denomination that prohibits vaccination. A surveillance was initiated to determine if there had been an importation of this same strain of wild poliovirus into a southern Alberta community with a similar religious affiliation. Viral culture of stool samples from consenting individuals in the community resulted in viral isolates which typed as poliovirus type 3. Sequencing of amplicons generated from both the 5' nontranslated region and the VP1/2A portion of the genomes from representative poliovirus isolates indicated a greater than 99% genetic similarity to the strain from The Netherlands. The results of this study show that the utilization of PCR-based diagnostics offers an important molecular tool for the concise and rapid surveillance of possible cases of wild poliovirus importation into communities with individuals at risk for infection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, National Centre for Enteroviruses, Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Drebot
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mulders
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Kew
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strong
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002835:Christianity; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated; C442540:VP1 protein, Poliovirus; C442541:VP2 protein, Poliovirus