title: Recovery of poliovirus from cut surface of stored fresh papaya fruit.
abstract: Poliovirus kept on the cut surfaces of fully ripe papaya cubes placed in an ice box showed a sharp and significant reduction in the recovery of infectious virus about 15 minutes after exposure. Thereafter, a very gradual decrease ensued and infectious residual virus was detected up to the end of the 6-hour exposure period. Papaya cubes washed or kept overnight before virus inoculation, and from less ripe fruits produced a similar survival pattern. A very small proportion of the inoculum was recovered from the mashed content of the inoculated papaya cubes thus suggesting that most of the non-recovered virus particles were inactivated. The results suggest that the importance of poliovirus-contaminated cut papayas as a transmission vehicle for the virus is greatly reduced by the rapid decline in the infectivity of a large proportion of the virus soon after contamination. Nevertheless, the potential to transmit remains as a small residual pool of infectious poliovirus is able to survive for a relatively long period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Yap
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005511:Food Handling; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005638:Fruit / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000254:growth & development*; D012034:Refrigeration