U.S. Poliovirus Containment Survey
Maintaining the National Inventory for Poliovirus Containment to Minimize Risk of Poliovirus Release from U.S. Laboratories
Take The Survey
If you didn’t receive a request to take the survey but wish to participate or were directed by someone at your facility or institution to take the survey, click the link below.
If you received an email directly from the U.S. NAC inviting you to participate in the National Inventory for Poliovirus Containment, please access the survey by clicking on the link provided at the bottom of the email.
If you no longer have the email or if you have any questions about the survey, contact us at poliocontainment@cdc.gov and your survey link will be re-sent to you.
Survey Overview
The U.S. National Authority for Containment of Poliovirus (NAC), located in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Readiness and Response appreciates your participation in U.S. Poliovirus Containment Survey. This survey is designed to collect relevant facility inventory data to ensure compliance with requirements established in the WHO Global Action Plan (GAP), as adapted for the WHO Region of the Americas. Per GAP, each country is required to maintain a national inventory of poliovirus-containing materials.
Audience
The survey should be completed by laboratories, storage sites, wastewater facilities, or other facilities that test, extract, handle, or store poliovirus or biological samples from humans, experimentally infected animals, sewage, or environmental waters.
Purpose: Identify Infectious Poliovirus and PIM
Unlike previous releases of the national survey that focused on identifying facilities with infectious poliovirus, this release puts greater emphasis on poliovirus potentially infectious materials (PIM) in addition to infectious poliovirus. PIM should be identified based on where and when the specimens were collected, not based on any test results. PIM includes human fecal samples and upper respiratory secretions collected for polio or non-polio related work in a time and place where one of the following apply:
- Wild poliovirus (WPV) was circulating
- Vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) was circulating
- Oral polio vaccine (OPV) was in use
Historical domestic and international specimens are more likely to fall into the categories above. Also, PIM cultured in some common cell lines to isolate other viruses of interest may unintentionally amplify poliovirus. Respiratory or enteric viral isolates obtained from PIM specimens using poliovirus-permissive cell lines are also considered PIM. For more details, see Appendix C Common Cell Lines and Animals Susceptible to Poliovirus.
Extracted nucleic acid and specimens that may contain only OPV (i.e., OPV PIM) are not subject to GAP containment at this time; however, these materials are still considered part of the U.S. poliovirus inventory and should be reported in the survey.
Before starting the survey, please review the WHO Country and Territory-Specific Poliovirus Case Data and the Country Information on Last Use of Trivalent Oral Poliovirus to determine if a biological specimen or environmental sample in your inventory may contain poliovirus. If you need assistance with the using the tables, contact the NAC.
After Identifying Infectious Poliovirus or PIM
Facilities are encouraged to destroy all unneeded or nonessential poliovirus material. If your facility intends to destroy some or all the poliovirus PIM or infectious material it possesses, you will be asked to complete an attestation of destruction for the material. (Download and fill out form in Acrobat. Form cannot be filled out in browser view.)
Survey Guidance
The U.S. National Survey Guidance for Poliovirus Containment is intended to help you prepare your survey responses prior to completing the survey online. Note, the survey cannot be submitted in a paper-based format. This guidance includes instructions, appendices, definitions, and other references.
The survey is divided into six modules:
- Facility Information
- Material Types
- Inventory Information
- Disposition of Materials
- Key Facility Personnel
- Attestation
In the survey, you will be asked to state the scope of your responses (i.e., if you represent a single laboratory, department, or entire institution). This is important and helps us to determine if your facility is adequately represented. The amount of time needed to complete the survey will vary depending on the complexity of your laboratory or facility and the availability of needed information.
Please contact the NAC at poliocontainment@cdc.gov if you have any questions about the survey and someone will provide assistance.