IPV strategy may be risky for polio eradication
26th November 2013
By Rada Rouse
In a commentary in the Lancet, experts noted many positive poliovirus samples detected in sewage in Israel (which adopted IPV-only in 2005) but only a handful in West Bank and Gaza where a program of combined OPV/IPV has been maintained. Israel returned to OPV/IPV in August this year.
This “natural experiment” suggested combination OPV/IPV was essential for global eradication, the commentary said. Middle Eastern countries have been scrambling to vaccinate following polio outbreaks in Syria.
Lancet 2013; 382:161-12