Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 54, 80-82, 2001
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Laboratory and Epidemiology Communications
Surveillance of Poliovirus-Isolates in Japan, 2000
Tetsuo Yoneyama*, Kenji Sakae1, Junichi Baba2, Takashi Nakayama3, Katsumi Chijiwa4, Kazuhiro Kizoe5, Hideaki Shimizu6, Setsuko Iizuka7, Tohru Ishizaki8, Reiko Kondo9 and Tatsuo Miyamura
Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama 208-0011, 1Aichi Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Nagoya 462-0032, 2Fukuoka City Institute for Hygiene and Environment, Fukuoka 810-0065, 3Toyama Institute of Health, Toyama 939-0363, 4Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences, Fukuoka 818-0135, 5Miyazaki Prefectural Institute for Public Health and Environment, Miyazaki 889-2155, 6Public Health Research Institute of the City of Kawasaki, Kawasaki 210-0834, 7Shimane Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Shimane 690-0122, 8Kyoto Prefectural Institute of Hygienic and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto 612-8369 and 9Ehime Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Ehime 790-0003
Communicated by Tatsuo Miyamura
(Accepted May 9, 2001)
In 2000, 14 polioviruses were isolated from nine clinical patients and three healthy individuals among nine prefectures in Japan. These isolates were sent to National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) and subjected to intratypic differentiation by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method developed by Dr. Radu Crainic (1). As shown in Table 1, all of the examined polioviruses were vaccine-derived strains. One vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) case in Miyazaki Prefecture (case 5) was a 37-year-old male with unknown vaccination history. His daughter had received a second administration of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) 23 days before the onset of his paralysis (case 10). Antigenically type 3 polioviruses, with Sabin 3 in the VP1 region and Sabin 1 in 3D, were isolated from both the father's and the daughter's stool specimens, indicating that the daughter was the source of infection.
Poliomyelitis cases in Japan from 1970 to 2000 are summarized in Table 2. Following the report of fatal encephalopathy (case 4) after administration of OPV in Fukuoka Prefecture, polio immunization practices in Japan were temporarily ceased because of safety concerns. A total of nine polioviruses were isolated from seven neurological cases including four transient paralysis cases during April and May of 2000. However, no poliovirus-positive acute flaccid paralysis was reported after the resumption of OPV immunization in autumn of the same year.
On 29 October 2000 in Kyoto, the Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Western Pacific Region certified that the WHO Western Pacific region was free of indigenous wild poliovirus transmission (2). In three regions, Africa, East Mediterranean, and South East Asia, wild polioviruses are still circulating. The 2000 outbreak caused by circulation of vaccine-derived poliovirus in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (2), and the occurrence of importation of wild poliovirus in China in 1999 (3) warned of the risk of poliovirus reintroduction to all polio-free countries. Until global eradication of poliomyelitis is achieved, it is necessary for all polio-free countries to maintain high immunity to poliomyelitis, and to strengthen surveillance systems for the sensitive detection of circulating poliovirus strains.
REFERENCES
* Corresponding author: E-mail:tyoneyam@nih.go.jp, Tel: +81-42-561-0771, Fax: +81-42-561-4729
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