Meeting report: 30th International Conference on Antiviral Research, in Atlanta, GA, USA

Vere Hodge, R Anthony

In answer to a question from the audience, Ann replied that it was not known if the switch from Tyr, which is so highly conserved, to Cys has involved a cost to modern humans. In 1988, GPEI was started with four partners, the World Health Organisation, Rotary International, CDC and UNICEF. In 1988, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution that set out their aim, to eradicate polio by 2000. Although 17 years later, that target has still not been achieved, the burden of disease has been successfully reduced. In the 1988 baseline year, there were about 350,000 cases/year in 125 countries -by the 2000 target year, there were less than 3000 cases. Each year, this low number of cases has continued to decline, there being just five cases in two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) so far this year (April 2017). Initially, the oral vaccine (OPV), containing attenuated viruses of the three serotypes, was widely used because its administration was so easy. It was highly effective in reducing the number of new cases. Although most vaccinated subjects clear the attenuated virus, a small reservoir of virus was identified in immunocompromised subjects. As the number of polio cases have declined in a particular area, the oral vaccine has been replaced by the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), thus avoiding the creation of potential new virus reservoirs. However, IPV supply shortages are a problem. OPV remains in use in most countries.