Key result
Among adult laboratory staff in South Africa, seroprevalence to polio serotypes 1, 2, and 3 was 85.5%, 90.1%, and 74.1% respectively, with 36.4% lacking protective immunity to at least one serotype.
Cross-Sectional (n=352)
No
The seroprevalence of polio serotype 3 in South African adult laboratory staff falls below the 80% target, highlighting a potential risk for outbreaks.
May signal polio outbreak risk in lab settings; hypothesis-generating for adult immunity gaps in South Africa.
The global eradication of polio has been a World Health Organization goal since May 1988 with the current target for global eradication set at 2018. A keystone of the eradication initiative is achieving and maintaining high immunisation coverage, producing high population immunity. Assessing infant vaccination coverage does not give a reliable indication of adult immunity levels as antibody titres decline with age. A requirement of the occupational health programme at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases is to test newly appointed personnel for immunity to polio. During the period 2009 to 2013, 352 sera were collected and tested by means of antibody neutralisation assays to determine immunity to all three polio serotypes. The objective of this study was to assess immunity to polio in personnel employed at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases as a proxy for the general adult South African population. The seroprevalence to polio serotypes 1, 2 and 3 were 85.5, 90.0 and 74.0%, respectively. Of the 352 samples tested, 2.3% were sero-negative for all three serotypes and 36.0% were sero-negative to at least one of the serotypes. The seroprevalence to polio serotype 3 falls below the target of 80.0%, and could pose a potential risk following importation or development of vaccine derived poliovirus type 3.
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Moonsamy et al. (2016) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy adults (laboratory staff) (n=352). Polio immunity status was evaluated on Seroprevalence of polio antibodies (titre ≥1:8) to serotypes 1, 2, and 3. Among adult laboratory staff in South Africa, seroprevalence to polio serotypes 1, 2, and 3 was 85.5%, 90.1%, and 74.1% respectively, with 36.4% lacking protective immunity to at least one serotype.
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