A total of 744 paralytic poliomyelitis patients (0-59 months old) were reviewed and results showed a critical and perpetual surge during 2003 (20.2%), 2004 (27.4%) and 2005 (41%). A slight male predominance (56%) was reported and a high incidence was reported in the low socioeconomic (68.3%) and urban setting (60.3%) groups. It was concluded that the polio eradication campaigning programmes in ...

In the wake of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) program to eradicate poliomyelitis globally by the end of the year 2000 (in 1997 only 5,186 cases were reported world-wide), attention has focussed on the importance of good surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis, which is essential for a country to qualify for being declared polio-free, and on the occurrence of vaccine–associated paralytic ...

Neutralizing antibodies for Type 2 (Lansing) poliomyelitis virus were tested periodically in a group of 18 patients from whom Type 1 poliomyelitis virus was recovered. Data for homotypic neutralizing antibodies and Type 2 complement-fixing antibodies were also available on the majority of these patients. The results indicated that Type 2 neutralizing antibodies first appeared or significantly i...

In the prevaccine era, infection with wild poliovirus (WPV) was common worldwide, with seasonal peaks and epidemics in the summer and fall in temperate areas. The incidence of poliomyelitis in the United States declined rapidly after the licensure of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in 1955 and live oral polio vaccine (OPV) in the 1960s. The last cases of indigenously acquired WPV in the United ...

This is the first study of genetic susceptibility to paralytic poliomyelitis in a defined population over more than one epidemic. All 1,072 cases of Maltese with poliomyelitis in the islands of Malta from 1909 to 1964, and baptism matched controls, were traced to their great grand-parents or beyond. All marriages were checked for consanguinity. Many cases were closely related with many consangu...

The purpose of this article is to record a clinical and experimental study of muscle changes noted in a recent epidemic of poliomyelitis in New Zealand. The term muscle spasm has come into general use to describe those changes which occur in the acute stages of the disease and has to be distinguished from the state of contracture which is a terminal condition of muscle shortening due to fibrosi...

In 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the goal of global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000. Based on cases officially reported to WHO, progress toward eradication has been substantial: in 1992, a total of 15,445 paralytic poliomyelitis cases were reported worldwide, compared with 32,419 cases in 1988. Beginning in December 1993, the People's Republic of China will...

To achieve poliomyelitis eradication, the World Health Organization recommends that countries conduct surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is defined as a sudden onset of paralysis/weakness in any part of the body of a child less than 15 years of age. This syndromic reporting strategy, of investigating all AFP cases rather than just “suspected p...

OBJECTIVE IgG and IgA immunocompetence of children with wild poliovirus poliomyelitis and non-polio acute flaccid paralysis. METHODS 932 cases of acute flaccid paralysis, reported in 2008-2009, were tested for presence of polio and non-polio enteroviruses according to the WHO standards. Serum IgA and IgG levels were determined by sandwich ELISA. RESULTS Mean (SD) IgA levels [0.87 (0.62)g/L;...