[A new strategy for the eradication of poliomyelitis]

Abstract

Today it is drastically changed the strategy to obtain the complete eradication of the polio disease. In fact, targeted vaccinations in the regions where the virus is latent are preferred to the expensive massive vaccinations of the past. The zones of the origin of the infection can be exactly identified by means of molecular biology techniques applied to the poliovirus, which is a RNA virus, isolated from patients or infected environments. The RNA genome of the virus is retrotranscribed into a double-stranded DNA molecule, colinear to its template, in the laboratory. This DNA is examined for its nucleotide sequence revealing number and types of the eventual present mutations. The comparison with the genome sequence of the original virus strain and with those of other strains isolated in previous outbursts of infection allows to precisely establish the geographic origin of the virus under examination. In such a way it is possible to set up a highly specific prophylactic vaccination that might ensure better results as for efficacy and reduction of the costs.