LIVE POLIO IRUS VACCINES

13. USE OF ATTENUATED LIVE POLIOVIRUS VACCINE
IN CUBAN CHILDREN
JUAN EMBIL, JR., M.D., LUIS GERVAIS, M.D., CARLOS HERNÁNDEZ
MIYARES, M.D., AND GUSTAVO CARDELLE, M.D.*
DR. EMBIL (presenting the paper): The present
summary is a progress report on a series of
studies in the oral application of live poliovirus
vaccine in Cuban children. More than 10,000
have been vaccinated to date and summaries
have been presented as serologic data became
available. Four groups were discussed at the
First Conference last year and these, together
with two additional groups, are the subject of
another report. 2 Other groups totalling 360
children, all of whom received a trivalent liquid
vaccine prepared from the Lederle strains of
attenuated polioviruses, are included in a separate
report. a The present report concerns three
additional groups of children who received vaccine
in the form of monovalent capsules and two
other groups that were given the trivalent liquid
vaccine. The vaccines were provided by Lederle
* Dr. Embil (Director, Viral and Rickettsial Research
Department, Municipal Children's Hospital,
Havana, Cuba); Dr. Gervais (Assistant Director,
Viral and Rickettsial Research Department, Municipal
Children's Hospital, Havana); Dr. Hernández
Miyares (Medical Director, "Colonias Infantiles" of
the Republic of Cuba, Havana); and Dr. Cardelle
(Pediatrician, Sanatorio Covadonga, Havana).
Laboratories of Pearl River, N. Y., and the
methods by which the serologic data were obtained
have been previously described.a
MONOVALENT VACCINE CAPSULES
Two groups (7 and 8) of children totalling
183, who were residents in a rural recreation
camp, were fed monovalent poliovirus vaccine
capsules at seven-day intervals in the order Types
2, 3, and 1. The first dose consisted of two capsules
of Type 2 virus representing approximately
5.5 logs of virus; the second feeding was two
capsules of Type 3 vaccine representing approximately
5.8 logs of virus; and the final feeding
was a single capsule of Type 1 virus, roughly
4.8 logs. The children ranged in age from five to
13 years and the median age was between eight
and nine years. Blood samples were collected at
the time of the initial feeding and again 30 days
after the last feeding.
The pre- and post-feeding type-specific seronegatives
found in these 183 children are summarized
in Table 1. The total seronegative conversion
rate was 68 per cent, which is relatively
TABLE 1. MONOVALENT CAPSULES, 7 DAY INTERVAL
SUMMARY OF SEROLOGIC DATA (GROUPS VII AND VIII)
DISTRIBUTION OF SERONEGATIVES
BEFORE AND AFTER VACCINATION
SERONEGATIVES
SERONEGATIVE
PRE PERSONS PRE POST CONVERSION RATES
TYPE 1 12 12 10 TYPE I 7/17 41%
TYPE II 5 5 1
TYPE III 12 12 2 TYPE II 5/6 83%
TYPE I, III 5 10
TYPE II,III 1 2 _ TYPE III 16/18 89%
35 41 13 TOTAL 28/41 68%
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