Poliovirus immunity among adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a cross-sectional serosurvey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vaccination efforts to eradicate polio currently focus on children under 5 years of age, among whom most cases of poliomyelitis still occur. However, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 occurred in 2010-2011 in which 16% of cases occurred among adults; in a related outbreak in the neighboring Republic of Congo, 75% of cases occurred among the same adult age-group. Given that infected adults may transmit poliovirus, this study was designed to assess adult immunity against polioviruses.

Methods

We assessed poliovirus seroprevalence using dried blood spots from 5,526 adults aged 15-59 years from the 2013-2014 Demographic and Health Survey in the DRC.

Results

Among adults in the DRC, 74%, 72%, and 57% were seropo

SUBMITTER: Alfonso VH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8728990 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature