Except for Patient no. 15, all virus isolates including those mutated from ALA54THR were found also to be rct40+. None of the Hungarian isolates had ≥10 VP1 nucleotide substitutions (equivalent Erlotinib to >1% VP1 sequence divergence from the parental OPV strains). This is the arbitrary demarcation between the frequently isolated vaccine-related isolates and the infrequently isolated VDPVs from immunodeficient patients (iVDPVs) with prolonged vaccine-virus infections or circulating VDPVs (Yang et al., 1991; Kew et al., 2005). Only one single isolate (Patient no. 11) had higher number of mutations than any other isolates (Table 2). The finding of that vaccine-related isolate with 7 nt substitutions

in VP1 (0.7% of the VP1 sequence) might be the consequence of the quasispecies Selleckchem Ceritinib nature of polioviruses. Another mechanism creating variation of Sabin strains was shown to be genetic recombination (Furione et al., 1993; Georgescu et al., 1994; Guillot et al., 2000; Karakasiliotis et al., 2004; Arita et al., 2005). Natural recombinants of Sabin vaccine origin were described and isolated from VAPP patients (Martín et al., 2002; Kilpatrick et al., 2004). In some cases, the recombination event occurred between vaccine and wild-type polioviruses

(V/W) and/or nonpolio enteroviruses (Balanant et al., 1991; Guillot et al., 2000; Yang et al., 2005; Rakoto-Andrianarivelo et al., 2007). Recombination events may also contribute to the modification of VP1. Among vaccine-related viruses isolated from children given or indirectly exposed to tOPV, recombination is most frequently found among the type 3 isolates, the large majority of which are vaccine/vaccine recombinants Teicoplanin (Furione et al., 1993). Only one of the 18 isolates was found to be a recombinant of Sabin types 3 and 1 within the 3D genetic region. Clinical records indicate that Patient no. 10 received mOPV1 approximately 6 weeks before he received mOPV3, suggesting that clearance of the type 1 OPV strain was incomplete at the time of mOPV3 administration. This is

the first description of recombinant poliovirus strains that may have been generated by sequential schedules of mOPV. In Hungary, from 1992, 3-month-old children were routinely administered first with a single dose of trivalent eIPV followed by five tOPV doses. As immunization coverage was 99% and maternal immunity is able to protect susceptible infants before the administration of IPV, this modification of the vaccination schedule was sufficient to prevent VAPP disease between 1992 and 2006, in spite of the fact that altogether 1.4 million primovaccinees have been administered in the country and the surveillance of AFP was permanently continued (Baranyai, 1994). One may conclude that postvaccination VAPP caused by revertants in the 1960s could be the consequence of delayed immune response of a few primovaccinees of unknown reason.