Preventive Medicine
Volume 40, Issue 6, 2005, Pages 685-689

Immune status to poliovirus among immigrant workers in Israel (Article)

Calderon-Margalit R.* , Sofer D. , Gefen D. , Lewis M. , Shulman L. , Mendelson E. , Swartz T.A. , Shohat T.
  • a Hadassah-Hebrew University, Braun Sch. Pub. Hlth. and Comm. Med., POB 12272, Jerusalem, Israel
  • b Central Virology Laboratory, Public Health Laboratories, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel
  • c Tel-Aviv District Authority, Israel Ministry of Health, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • d Tel-Aviv District Authority, Israel Ministry of Health, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • e Central Virology Laboratory, Public Health Laboratories, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel
  • f Central Virology Laboratory, Public Health Laboratories, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel
  • g Dept. of Epidemiol. and Biostatist., Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • h Tel-Aviv District Authority, Israel Ministry of Health, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Dept. of Epidemiol. and Biostatist., Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Abstract

Background. An essential part of the progress towards the global eradication of poliomyelitis is the ongoing evaluation of populations immunity. Migration of unregistered individuals poses a challenge to such estimations. Moreover, partially immunized immigrants might enlarge immunity gaps and facilitate polio outbreaks in their destination countries. Objectives. To study the level of immunity to polio in adult foreign workers in Israel. Methods. Foreign workers (n = 145) from the Philippines, India, and Western Africa were tested for neutralizing antibodies against three IPV strains and an outbreak-associated wild virus. Demographic and immunization data were collected by questionnaires. Results. Seropositivity rates and geometric mean titers (GMTs) for the Mahoney (type 1), MEF (type 2), and Saukett (type 3) poliovirus strains and the wild poliovirus type 1 strain were 99.3% (GMT-233.8), 98.6% (GMT-268.5), 99.3% (GMT-89.4), and 99.3% (GMT-139.5), respectively. Higher GMTs were associated with parenthood and older age. African individuals had significantly higher GMTs for the Saukett strain, compared with individuals from the Philippines and India. Conclusions. Our results indicate a high level of immunity among foreign workers. More serosurveys are indicated in the future in order to monitor the level of immunity in residents in Israel. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

Polio Immigration Seroprevalence Immunity

Index Keywords

immigrant Israel India demography virus strain antibody titer human virus immunity Poliomyelitis virus controlled study priority journal foreign worker Adolescent male female Africa questionnaire Article epidemic adult wild boar data analysis age distribution immune status immunization Philippines neutralizing antibody parenthood
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-17944372454&doi=10.1016%2fj.ypmed.2004.09.008&partnerID=40&md5=544b2ab1a80bc4eabd59d92f3e159634
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.09.008
ISSN: 00917435
Cited by: 6
Original Language: English