title: Vaccine preventable viral diseases and risks associated with waterborne transmission.
abstract: Rotavirus and poliovirus are paradigmatic viruses for causing major diseases affecting the human population.  The impact of poliovirus is remarkably diminished because of vaccination during the last half century. Poliomyelitis due  to wild polio currently affects a limited number of countries, and since 2000 sporadic outbreaks have been associated to  neurovirulent vaccine-derived polioviruses. Conversely, rotavirus is presently very diffuse, accounting for the largest fraction  of severe gastroenteritis among children <5 years-old. Vaccination towards rotavirus is still in its dawn, and zoonotic strains  contribute to the emergence and evolution of novel strains pathogenic to man. The environment, particularly surface water,  is a possible vehicle for large transmission of both viruses, but environmental surveillance of circulating strains can help  promptly monitor entry of new virulent strains into a country, their shedding and spread.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica Veterinaria e Sicurezza Alimentare, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. franco.ruggeri@iss.it
authors.forename: Franco Maria
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ruggeri
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fiore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines