Detection of immunoglobulin G levels produced by oral polio vaccine in HIV infected children in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: Disease eradication requires a long time and efficient management as compared to disease control program. After successful small pox eradication, polio virus causing poliomyelitis is choice for next eradication. The corner stone of the global polio eradication initiative is the immunization of children with multiple doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) through both Routine Immunization (RI) and Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs). This informed our design of this prospective study. Objective is to determine levels of Immunoglobulin G antibodies produced in HIV infected children aged (one to ten years) vaccinated with Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-two children infected with HIV who had received Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) at least four times had their blood samples collected and assayed for the presence of Polio Specific IgG antibodies using IgG ELISA test kit (DEMEDITEC Diagnostic GmbH, Germany). Three millilitre (3ml) of venous blood samples were collected aseptically by venepuncture. Sera obtained were assayed using Enzyme immunoassay detection and quantitative determination of human IgG antibodies against poliomyelitis virus in serum and plasma (Demeditic Poliomyelitis Virus IgG ELISA DEPOL01-Germany). RESULTS: The result showed that 95.6% (174/182) of the tested children had detectable IgG antibodies against polio virus. The high proportion of 95.6% recorded in this study indicates HIV infected children responded effectively to the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) being used in the ongoing polio eradication initiative. In this study, 4.4% (8/182) of the HIV infected children were not producing detectable amount of antibodies that could protect them from exposure to wild type of polio virus. CONCLUSION: This study shows that HIV infected children had detectable antibodies (Immunoglobulin G) against polio virus. Despite the overall progress recorded in the fight against poliomyelitis in Nigeria, a lot needs to be done to further strengthen the fight against poliomyelitis in Nigeria.