Application of monoclonal antibody panels in the virological and epidemiological review of poliomyelitis in Poland, 1981-1990.

Monoclonal antibody panels developed to differentiate vaccine-derived and wild-type strains of polio-viruses were applied to isolates from cases of paralytic poliomyelitis, non-paralytic poliomyelitis, and healthy excreters of poliovirus from Poland. All isolates from poliomyelitis cases were shown to be vaccine-derived, as were most other strains. However, two strains associated with meningitis had wild-type antigenic phenotypes and, as shown by partial genomic sequencing, wild-type genotypes. Correlation of laboratory and epidemiological data suggested that residual cases of paralytic poliomyelitis in Poland between 1981 and 1990 were vaccine-related. Study of the non-paralytic cases, however, helped identify the circulation of endemic wild-type viruses in a well-vaccinated community.