Vaccine-derived polioviruses and children with primary immunodeficiency, Iran, 1995–2014
Widespread use of oral poliovirus vaccine has led to an ≈99.9% decrease in global incidence of poliomyelitis (from ≈350,000 cases in 1988 to 74 cases in 2015) and eradication of wild-type poliovirus serotypes 2 and 3. However, patients with primary immunodeficiency might shed vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) for an extended period, which could pose a major threat to polio eradication programs. Since 1995, sixteen VDPV populations have been isolated from 14 patients with immunodeficiency in Iran. For these patients, vaccine-associated paralysis, mostly in >1 extremity, was the first manifestation of primary immunodeficiency.