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Volume 25, Number 7—July 2019
Historical Review

Facility-Associated Release of Polioviruses into Communities—Risks for the Posteradication Era

Ananda S. BandyopadhyayComments to Author , Harpal Singh, Jacqueline Fournier-Caruana, John F. Modlin, Jay Wenger, Jeffrey Partridge, Roland W. Sutter, and Michel J. Zaffran
Author affiliations: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, USA (A.S. Bandyopadhyay, J.F. Modlin, J. Wenger, J. Partridge); World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (H. Singh, J. Fournier-Caruana, R.W. Sutter, M.J. Zaffran); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (R.W. Sutter)

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Table 1

Reported incidents of poliovirus release from laboratories and vaccine production facilities in the pre–polio vaccine era*

Year Location (reference) Source Poliovirus type No. cases* Exposure
 Description
Primary Secondary Tertiary
1933
 United States (20,21)
 Lab
 Not indicated
 1
 Physician
 NA
 NA
 Bitten (cutaneous disruption) by a normal macaque while doing work on poliomyelitis (paralysis); filterable virus capable of reproducing the disease in rabbits was isolated from the case; case was fatal
1935
 United States (22)
 Vaccine production facility
 Not indicated
 12
 Vaccine trial patients, age 5 mo to 20 y
 NA
 NA
 12 cases of paralytic poliomyelitis in patients receiving trial vaccination against poliomyelitis; natural infections ruled out as cause; 6 deaths
1941
 United States (19,20,23)
 Lab
 Not indicated
 1
 Lab staff
 NA
 NA
 Lab staff member experienced paralysis after preparation of infected tissues for inoculation into monkeys; cutaneous inoculation; no polio outbreaks reported in place of residence or areas of travel
1945
 United States (20,23)
 Lab
 Not indicated
 1
 Lab staff
 NA
 NA
 Lab staff member scratched on hand by noninoculated monkey during transport; subsequent virus contamination of hands might have occurred while feeding or inoculating monkeys; patient experienced paralysis and later died
1946
 Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) (20,25)
 Lab
 Not indicated
 1
 Lab staff
 NA
 NA
 Infection acquired during inoculation of monkeys with polio virus; paralysis occurred, case was fatal
1949
 United States (20,24)
 Lab
 WPV2 (mouse- adapted Lansing strain)
 2
 Lab staff
 NA
 NA
 Two lab technicians were infected in the eyes and nose with Lansing (Armstrong) strain while inoculating mice during polio experiments; both experienced paralysis
1950
 Canada (20,25)
 Lab
 Not indicated
 1
 Physician
 Na
 NA
 Doctor acquired poliomyelitis while performing autopsy on poliomyelitis patient; intracutaneous inoculation; residual weakness; case was not fatal
1954 United Kingdom (20,26) Lab WPV2 (MEF-1) strain 1 Lab staff NA NA Lab technicians infected by cutaneous inoculation while performing necropsy on animals infected with wild type-2 (MEF-1) strain; subsequent paralysis; cases were not fatal

*Cases defined as laboratory positive (with or without paralysis) for poliovirus by standard methods of virus isolation or known exposure to poliovirus. Lab, laboratory; MEF-1, wild poliovirus type 2 laboratory reference strain; NA, not applicable; WPV2, wild poliovirus type 2.

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Page updated: June 17, 2019
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