The Risk of Poliomyelitis Infection Among Exposed Hospital Personnel

Hospital personnel caring for acute poliomyelitis patients were studied for serologic evidence of infection by the 3 types of poliomyelitis virus during 1 poliomyelitis season. Although nearly one-third of the personnel were presumably susceptible to the types of poliomyelitis virus present in the cases and an additional and slightly smaller proportion had antibody in low titer, there was no evidence of transfer of infection under these circumstances, as measured by increases in neutralizing antibody titer. The striking difference between the rate of infection among members of households where a case has occurred and among hospital personnel is believed to be due chiefly to a decrease in the infectiousness of cases at the time of hospitalization. The usual hospital isolation techniques appear adequate to prevent transmission of virus from the patient to susceptible personnel under the conditions of hospital exposure.