[Immunity against poliomyelitis in mothers and their newborn infants. Comparison of Hamburg and Bamako (Mali)].

The polio neutralisation test was performed in 199 paired sera from mothers and their newborn infants from the Hamburg area and in 69 paired sera from Bamako (Mali). Antibodies against all 3 poliovirus types were demonstrated in 52.3% of Hamburg and in 78.0% of bamako mothers. The significantly inferior protection of Hamburg mothers was caused by a lower rate of polio 3 antibodies. Only 65.3% of the Hamburg mothers had polio 3 antibodies in contrast to 88.0% of Malian mothers. Newborn infants from Hamburg had significantly higher polio 2 antibody titres than their mothers, newborn infants from Bamako in contrast had significantly lower polio 2 and 3 antibody titres than their mothers. Both groups share an insufficient transferral of polio 3 antibodies. When only titres outside the range of error of the neutralisation test (1 titre step) are considered as different, all 3 polio types in both groups show agreement of titres in mother and child in more than 90%.