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Flashcards in Poliomyelitis Deck (47)
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1
Q

what is poliomyelitis?

A

pathology caused by destruction of grey matter of CNS

- motor neurones

2
Q

what does poliomyelitis cause?

A

paralysis of the lower limb and thoracic area

3
Q

how many polio survivors are there worldwide?

A

10-20 million

4
Q

what kind of disease is polio?

A

highly infectious viral disease

5
Q

how does the polio virus enters the body?

A

through the mouth

6
Q

where does the polio virus multiply?

A

in the intestine

7
Q

what does the polio virus invade?

A

The nervous system

8
Q

how long does it take for the polio virus to cause total paralysis?

A

a matter of hours

9
Q

what are the initial symptoms of polio?

A

fever, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs

10
Q

how may infections lead to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs)

A

1 in 200

11
Q

who does polio mainly infect?

A

children under five years of age

12
Q

which are the effective polio vaccines developed?

A
  • Jonas Salk - inactivated

- Albert Sabin - live oral

13
Q

what has happened with polio in endemic countries?

A

polio-endemic countries have never stopped transmission of wild polio-virus

14
Q

what happens in countries with re-established transmission?

A

have active and persistent poliovirus transmission more than 12 moths following an importation

15
Q

what are countries with imported poliovirus experiencing?

A

ongoing outbreaks

16
Q

what kind of virus is poliovirus?

A

enterovirus - member of the family Picornaviridae

17
Q

what shape is poliovirus?

A

icosahedral

18
Q

how many copies of each of 4 capsid proteins are there?

A

60

19
Q

what are the four capsid proteins?

A
  • VP1, 2, 3, (b-barrel structures - surface exposed

- VP4 - internal

20
Q

what is the VPg protein?

A

a 22 a.a primer for transcription

21
Q

what are the steps of replication of the poliovirus?

A
  1. receptor-mediated entry
  2. uncoating
  3. inhibition of cellular protein synthesis and translation (cap-binding protein)
  4. polyprotein synthesis
  5. co-translational processing
  6. protein-vesicle association
  7. RNA-vesicle association
  8. negative strand synthesis
  9. positive strand synthesis
  10. more translation
  11. capsid-RNA association
  12. packaging
  13. cell lysis and virus release
22
Q

what is CD155?

A

poliovirus receptor (PVR)

23
Q

where does the virus genome replication occur?

A

in a membrane vesicle, not the nucleus

24
Q

how is poliovirus transmitted?

A

faecal-orally

25
Q

where does the poliovirus multiply?

A

locally at initial sites (tonsils, Peyer’s Patches) or the lymph nodes that drain these sites

26
Q

where is the virus shed?

A

in the throat and faeces

27
Q

how can poliovirus enter the CNS?

A

by peripheral or cranial nerve axonal flow

28
Q

what does viraemia lead to?

A

virus replication in secondary sites (muscle predominantly, but also lymph nodes and brown fat

29
Q

what gives the virus access to the CNS?

A

peripheral or cranial nerve retrograde axonal flow

30
Q

what is the consequence of high levels of virus replication in the CNS?

A

destruction of motor neurones leading to paralysis (in approx. 0.5% infections)

31
Q

what is the poliovirus replication in the gut dependent on?

A

on gut microflora

32
Q

what do polio vaccines contain?

A

the 3 serotypes of poliovirus (type 1, 2, 3)

33
Q

why is there no cross-protection in polio?

A

because the 3 serotypes are antigenic ally distinct

34
Q

what is used to inactivate polio in the Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)?

A

formalin

35
Q

what type of vaccine is the oral polio vaccine (OPV)

A

live attenuated

36
Q

what does the OPV give to the patient?

A

good secretory (IgA antibody) protection and long-lasting protection (lifelong)

37
Q

what are the steps for attenuation of poliovirus?

A
  1. pathogenic virus is isolated from a patient and grown in human cultured cells
  2. the cultured virus is used to infect monkey cells
  3. the virus acquires many mutations that allow it to grow well in monkey cells
  4. the virus no longer grows well in human cells and may be a candidate for a vaccine
38
Q

What are the advantages of the salk (killed) vaccine?

A
  • effective
  • no reversion
  • stable in transport and storage
  • safe for immune-deficient patients
39
Q

what are the disadvantages of the salk (killed) vaccine?

A
  • no secretory IgA
  • boosters required
  • injection required
  • no herd immunity
  • does not prevent virus replication in the gut and hence further transmission
  • relatively expensive to produce
40
Q

what are the advantages of the sabin (live attenuated) vaccine?

A
  • effective
  • lifelong immunity
  • secretory immunity
  • herd immunity
  • easily administered
  • inexpensive
41
Q

what are the disadvantages of the sabin (live attenuated) vaccine?

A
  • reversion - vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis
  • requires ‘cold chain’
  • recombination
  • unsafe for immunodeficient patients
42
Q

why is it possible the eradication of poliomyelitis?

A
  • no animal vector or reservoir
  • effective vaccine(s)
  • virus survives poorly in the environment
  • no chronic carrier state in healthy individuals
43
Q

why is difficult to eradicate poliomyelitis?

A
  • unapparent infection 200:1
  • other disease with similar symptoms
  • reversion to virulence of vaccine (1 in 10^6 recipients)
  • recombination of vaccine and other enteroviruses
  • society responses
44
Q

what are the strategies for eradication?

A
  • strong routine immunisation programme
  • acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance
  • national immunisation days (NIDs)
  • ‘mopping-up’ immunisation
45
Q

what follows the strategies for eradication?

A
  • polio-free certification
  • laboratory containment of polioviruses
  • conversion to use of inactivated vaccine
  • stopping polio immunisation
46
Q

how long does it take for a country to be declared polio-free?

A

2 years

47
Q

in what two countries does polio remain endemic?

A

Pakistan and Afghanistan