Environmental Surveillance for Poliovirus and Other Enteroviruses: Long-Term Experience in Moscow, Russian Federation, 2004–2017
Olga E. Ivanova,
Maria S. Yarmolskaya,
Tatiana P. Eremeeva,
Galina M. Babkina,
Olga Y. Baykova,
Lyudmila V. Akhmadishina,
Alexandr Y. Krasota,
Liubov I. Kozlovskaya,
Alexander N. Lukashev
Affiliations
Olga E. Ivanova
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Chumakov Federal Scientific Centre for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FSBSI “Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS”), 108819 Moscow, Russia
Maria S. Yarmolskaya
Federal Budget Institution of Health of Rospotrebnadzor “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Moscow”, Moscow 129626, Russia
Tatiana P. Eremeeva
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Chumakov Federal Scientific Centre for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FSBSI “Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS”), 108819 Moscow, Russia
Galina M. Babkina
Federal Budget Institution of Health of Rospotrebnadzor “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Moscow”, Moscow 129626, Russia
Olga Y. Baykova
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Chumakov Federal Scientific Centre for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FSBSI “Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS”), 108819 Moscow, Russia
Lyudmila V. Akhmadishina
Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Alexandr Y. Krasota
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Chumakov Federal Scientific Centre for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FSBSI “Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS”), 108819 Moscow, Russia
Liubov I. Kozlovskaya
Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Chumakov Federal Scientific Centre for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FSBSI “Chumakov FSC R&D IBP RAS”), 108819 Moscow, Russia
Alexander N. Lukashev
Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Polio and enterovirus surveillance may include a number of approaches, including incidence-based observation, a sentinel physician system, environmental monitoring and acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance. The relative value of these methods is widely debated. Here we summarized the results of 14 years of environmental surveillance at four sewage treatment plants of various capacities in Moscow, Russia. A total of 5450 samples were screened, yielding 1089 (20.0%) positive samples. There were 1168 viruses isolated including types 1−3 polioviruses (43%) and 29 different types of non-polio enteroviruses (51%). Despite using the same methodology, a significant variation in detection rates was observed between the treatment plants and within the same facility over time. The number of poliovirus isolates obtained from sewage was roughly 60 times higher than from AFP surveillance over the same time frame. All except one poliovirus isolate were Sabin-like polioviruses. The one isolate was vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 with 17.6% difference from the corresponding Sabin strain, suggesting long-term circulation outside the scope of the surveillance. For some non-polio enterovirus types (e.g., Echovirus 6) there was a good correlation between detection in sewage and incidence of clinical cases in a given year, while other types (e.g., Echovirus 30) could cause large outbreaks and be almost absent in sewage samples. Therefore, sewage monitoring can be an important part of enterovirus surveillance, but cannot substitute other approaches.
