Oral polio vaccination of children in the tropics. III. Intercurrent enterovirus infections, vaccine virus take and antibody response.

The effect of intercurrent enterovirus infections on host responses to oral polio vaccine (OPV) was studied in groups of infants and children who were without antibodies to one, two or three serotypes of poliovirus. The prevalence of enterovirus infections as detected in fecal specimens collected at weekly intervals and inoculated in primary monkey kidney cell culture, HEp 2 cells and newborn mice ranged between 60 and 70 per cent. The presence of such infections at the time of, 1 week prior to, or during the 3 weeks prior to the administration of OPV did not appear to inhibit either vaccine virus take or antibody response. However, in both the infected and uninfected children the rates of vaccine virus take and seroconversion were found to be considerably lower than those reported from several temperate climate countries.