Two vaccines may be best for eradicating polio, study finds

New research shows that administering the Salk inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) to people who have previously been immunized with the Sabin live-attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) can boost their immunity against the poliovirus.

Study’s senior author Dr. Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general for Polio, Emergencies and Country Collaboration at the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the study revolutionized the understanding of IPV and how to use it in the global eradication effort to ensure children receive the best and quickest protection possible from this disease.

Researchers said that IPV should be used to accelerate the eradication of the virus in populations that have limited access to vaccination and the study has also provided the evidence for use of IPV among travelers to limit further international spread of the virus.

The international research team conducted a large, community-based, randomized clinical trial in nearly 1,000 infants and children in Uttar Pradesh, a state located in northern India. All subjects were given one vaccine or the other. After four weeks, all subjects, regardless of the initial dose type, got a dose of OPV.

In children who were given IPV, viral shedding was reduced, meaning that these children were much less infectious to others-a key in halting the spread of the virus.

The researchers also found that a single dose of IPV, which is administered by injection, induced intestinal mucosal immunity more effectively in children than an additional OPV dose.

Agencies/Canadajournal