Immunisation Against Polioviruses in Developing Countries

Intestinal mucosal immunity is unimportant for polio eradication: the failure of oral polio vaccination

AIMS

To explore if intestinal immunity induced by infection with live viruses in the oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) is essential, necessary or even helpful in interrupting transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV) for global polio eradication.

METHODS

We reviewed the biology of virus-host interactions in WPV infection and its alterations by OPV-induced immunity for direct evidence of the usefulness of intestinal immunity. We also explored indirect evidence by way of the effect of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) on the biology and on transmission dynamics of WPV.

RESULTS

Immunity, systemic and intestinal, induced by infection with WPV or vaccine viruses, does not prevent re-infection with WPV or vaccine viruses respectively, when exposed. Such re-infected hosts shed virus in the throat and in faeces and are sources of further transmission. Immunity protects against polio paralysis-hence reinfection always remain asymptommatic and silent.

CONCLUSION

Vaccine virus-induced intestinal immunity is not necessary for polio eradication. The continued and intensive vaccination efforts using OPV under the assumption of its superiority over IPV have resulted in the well-known undesirable effects, namely vaccine associated paralytic polio and the emergence of de-attenuated circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, in addition to the delay in completing global WPV eradication.

Force of infection: a determinant of vaccine efficacy?

Vaccine efficacy (VE) can vary in different settings. Of the many proposed setting-dependent determinants of VE, force of infection (FoI) stands out as one of the most direct, proximate, and actionable. As highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, modifying FoI through non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) use can significantly contribute to controlling transmission and reducing disease incidence and severity absent highly effective pharmaceutical interventions, such as vaccines. Given that NPIs reduce the FoI, the question arises as to if and to what degree FoI, and by extension NPIs, can modify VE, and more practically, as vaccines become available for a pathogen, whether and which NPIs should continue to be used in conjunction with vaccines to optimize controlling transmission and reducing disease incidence and severity.

Systematic review of mucosal immunity induced by oral and inactivated poliovirus vaccines against virus shedding following oral poliovirus challenge

Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) may be used in mass vaccination campaigns during the final stages of polio eradication. It is also likely to be adopted by many countries following the coordinated global cessation of vaccination with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) after eradication. The success of IPV in the control of poliomyelitis outbreaks will depend on the degree of nasopharyngeal and intestinal mucosal immunity induced against poliovirus infection. We performed a systematic review of studies published through May 2011 that recorded the prevalence of poliovirus shedding in stool samples or nasopharyngeal secretions collected 5-30 days after a "challenge" dose of OPV. Studies were combined in a meta-analysis of the odds of shedding among children vaccinated according to IPV, OPV, and combination schedules. We identified 31 studies of shedding in stool and four in nasopharyngeal samples that met the inclusion criteria. Individuals vaccinated with OPV were protected against infection and shedding of poliovirus in stool samples collected after challenge compared with unvaccinated individuals (summary odds ratio [OR] for shedding 0.13 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.24)). In contrast, IPV provided no protection against shedding compared with unvaccinated individuals (summary OR 0.81 [95% CI 0.59-1.11]) or when given in addition to OPV, compared with individuals given OPV alone (summary OR 1.14 [95% CI 0.82-1.58]). There were insufficient studies of nasopharyngeal shedding to draw a conclusion. IPV does not induce sufficient intestinal mucosal immunity to reduce the prevalence of fecal poliovirus shedding after challenge, although there was some evidence that it can reduce the quantity of virus shed. The impact of IPV on poliovirus transmission in countries where fecal-oral spread is common is unknown but is likely to be limited compared with OPV.

Safety, dose, immunogenicity, and transmissibility of an oral live attenuated Shigella flexneri 2a vaccine candidate (SC602) among healthy adults and school children in Matlab, Bangladesh

In double-blind trials in Bangladesh, 88 adults, and 79 children (8-10 years) were randomized to receive either a single oral dose of 1 × 10(4), 1 × 10(5) or 1 × 10(6)CFU of SC602 (a live, attenuated Shigella flexneri 2a strain vaccine) or placebo. In the adult outpatient 1 × 10(6) CFU group, severe joint pain and body aches were reported by one and two vaccinees respectively. In the adult inpatient trial, SC602 was isolated from 3 volunteers, pre-vaccination antibody titers were high, and fourfold increases in serum IgG anti-LPS responses were observed in 2 of 5 subjects of the 1 × 10(6)CFU group. None of the volunteers developed diarrhea. Overall, SC602 was found to be associated with minimal vaccine shedding, minimal reactogenicity, no transmission risk, and low immune stimulation.

Immunogenicity and efficacy of oral vaccines in developing countries: lessons from a live cholera vaccine

Oral vaccines, whether living or non-living, viral or bacterial, elicit diminished immune responses or have lower efficacy in developing countries than in developed countries. Here I describe studies with a live oral cholera vaccine that include older children no longer deriving immune support from breast milk or maternal antibodies and that identify some of the factors accounting for the lower immunogenicity, as well as suggesting counter-measures that may enhance the effectiveness of oral immunization in developing countries. The fundamental breakthrough is likely to require reversing effects of the 'environmental enteropathy' that is often present in children living in fecally contaminated, impoverished environments.

Clinical trials of Shigella vaccines: two steps forward and one step back on a long, hard road

More than 50 years of research has yielded numerous Shigella vaccine candidates that have exemplified both the promise of vaccine-induced prevention of shigellosis and the impediments to developing a safe and effective vaccine for widespread use, a goal that has yet to be attained. This Review discusses the most advanced strategies for Shigella vaccine development, the immune responses that are elicited following disease or vaccination, the factors that have accelerated or impeded Shigella vaccine development and our ideas for the way forward.

Enteric infections and the vaccines to counter them: future directions

While it is well-recognized that diarrheal diseases remain the second most frequent cause of mortality among children <60 months of age in the developing world, there is nevertheless a need to obtain more precise mortality and hospitalization burden data in populations living in the world's least developed areas. There is also a glaring need to obtain robust etiology data in relation to the different diarrheal disease clinical syndromes, including serotypes of Shigella and antigenic types of ETEC. Because of the poor uptake of the new typhoid and cholera vaccines licensed since 1985, it will be important to create reliable, long-term demand for the next generation of enteric vaccines, including new rotavirus, Shigella and ETEC vaccines. The first priority is to get individual vaccines licensed. Post-licensure, it will then be simpler to investigate the clinical acceptability, immunogenicity and effectiveness of various combinations of the individual licensed enteric vaccines. The extensive gut mucosal surface with its many sites for induction of immune responses make it likely that co-administrations will be successful. Partnerships of public and private agencies in the developing and the industrialized world will have to be forged to create a reliable demand for new enteric vaccines and to assure adequate, sustained supplies of affordable products. Systematic implementation programs will have to be created in the least developed, high burden, high mortality countries to deliver enteric vaccines and to document their impact after introduction.

Disease surveillance at district level: a model for developing countries

For over a decade we have maintained within a district of 5 million people, a system of prompt reporting of cases of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases, encephalitis, meningitis, hepatitis, and rabies; together with a sentinel laboratory surveillance of cholera, typhoid fever, malaria, HIV infection and antimicrobial-resistance patterns of selected pathogens. The system combined government and private sectors, with every hospital enrolled and participating. Reports were scanned daily on a computer for any clustering of cases. Interventions included investigations, immunisation, antimicrobial treatment, health education, and physical rehabilitation of children with paralysis. All vaccine-preventable diseases have declined markedly, whilst malaria and HIV infections have increased steadily. Annual expense was less than one US cent per head. The reasons for the success and sustainability of this model include simplicity or reporting procedure, low budget, private-sector participation, personal rapport with people in the network, regular feedback of information through a monthly bulletin, and the visible interventions consequent upon reporting. This district-level disease surveillance model is replicable in developing countries for evaluating polio eradication efforts, monitoring immunisation programmes, detecting outbreaks of old or new diseases, and for evaluating control measures.