title: Poliovirus Laboratory Based Surveillance: An Overview.
abstract: World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1988 encouraged the member states to launch Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) (resolution WHA41.28) against "the Crippler" called poliovirus, through strong routine immunization program and intensified surveillance systems. Since its launch, global incidence of poliomyelitis has been reduced by more than 99 % and the disease squeezed to only three endemic countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria) out of 125. Today, poliomyelitis is on the verge of eradication, and their etiological agents, the three poliovirus serotypes, are on the brink of extinction from the natural environment. The last case of poliomyelitis due to wild type 2 strain occurred in 1999 in Uttar Pradesh, India whereas the last paralytic case due to wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) was seen in November, 2012 in Yobe, Nigeria. Despite this progress, undetected circulation cannot fully rule out the eradication as most of the poliovirus infections are entirely subclinical; hence sophisticated environmental surveillance is needed to ensure the complete eradication of virus. Moreover, the vaccine virus in under-immunized communities can sometimes revert and attain wild type characteristics posing a big challenge to the program.
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Poliomyelitis, National Institute of Health, Chak Shehzad, Park Road, Islamabad, 45500, Pakistan. zaidis@pak.emro.who.int.
authors.forename: Syed Sohail Zahoor
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.affiliation: WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Humayun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asghar
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Poliomyelitis, National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Salmaan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Poliomyelitis, National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Masroor
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Alam
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000379:methods; D015994:Incidence; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines
keywords: Poliomyelitis; Poliovirus; Surveillance systems; Vaccine virus