Live poliovirus vaccine in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis: effects on renal function and specific antibody response

Twenty-one patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (GN) (5 with renal failure) received three doses of live trivalent poliovirus vaccine administered orally. The effect of the polio vaccination on the renal function and the titers of antibodies to poliovirus were studied. No significant consequence was observed in renal disease. Before vaccination, titers of poliovirus type 1 and 3 antibodies were significantly decreased as compared to healthy adult subjects. After vaccination, the patients exhibited a significant rise in poliovirus antibody titers for the three serotypes, although some of them failed to develop a fourfold or greater antibody rise to at least one of the three serotypes, especially in the group of patients with renal failure. These results indicate that live poliovirus vaccination is not deleterious in patients with GN and can provide a good protection.

The respective advantages of complement fixation and ELISA for routine diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection

The results of CF and ELISA tests for cytomegalovirus performed on 270 sera of hospitalized patients show a positive correlation. As a general rule, ELISA is more sensitive than CF, except for a few sera collected from patients with immunological disorders. When two sequential sera are available, the CF remains a reliable and inexpensive method. But when only one serum can be obtained, the probability of an active CMV infection can be estimated on the IgM/IgG ratio. In 26% of the patients, this ratio was greater than or equal to 1. The ELISA is twice as expensive as the CF test. To reduce its cost, a simple method for preparing ELISA antigen from commercially-obtained CF antigens is described.