ABORTIVE AND SUBCLINICAL POLIOMYELITIS IN A FAMILY DURING THE 1992 EPIDEMIC IN THE NETHERLANDS

We describe a case of abortive poliomyelitis due to poliovirus type 3 (PV3) in an unvaccinated woman and a subclinical poliovirus infection in her family during an epidemic in the Netherlands, The woman excrete d the epidemic strain (PV3) for 7 weeks, Her two children received ora l attenuated poliovirus vaccine and were subsequently found to excrete PV1 and PV2 vaccine strains in addition to the epidemic PV3 strain. H er husband, who had neutralizing antibodies to all three poliovirus ty pes because of previous vaccination, initially excreted no virus; subs equentry, however, the vaccine strain PV1 and the epidemic strain PV3 could be cultured from his feces, These observations demonstrate the e ase with which poliovirus circulates among family members, including t hose with neutralizing antibodies.