title: Prolonged detection of indigenous wild polioviruses in sewage from communities in Egypt.
abstract: Environmental surveillance for polioviruses has been implemented in Egypt. This paper reports on a study in which 130 sewage samples were collected between January 2001 and December 2001 from eight provinces of Egypt. Samples were analyzed by virus isolation in L20B and RD cell cultures, and wild polioviruses were characterized by sequencing of the VP1 protein coding region. Wild type 1 polioviruses were detected in 57% of the sewage samples and 91% of the study sites, only two of which reported paralytic poliomyelitis cases in 2001. Three genetic lineages of a single indigenous type 1 poliovirus genotype were detectable in sewage, and only one lineage was also detected through surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. Wild polioviruses persisted in the environment despite implementation of oral poliovirus vaccine immunization campaigns. Continued analysis of sewage samples, critical evaluation of immunization coverage, and performance of surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis are proposed as follow-up activities.
authors.affiliation: Egyptian Organization for Biological Products and Vaccine Production, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: El Bassioni
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barakat
authors.forename: Eman
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nasr
authors.forename: Esther M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: de Gourville
authors.forename: Tapani
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hovi
authors.forename: Soile
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blomqvist
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Mirja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stenvik
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gary
authors.forename: Olen M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Kew
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pallansch
authors.forename: Mohamed H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wahdan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012722:Sewage / Q000821:virology*; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage