Poliovirus Eradication

As the world moves closer to poliovirus eradication, efforts are being made to reduce the risk of polioviruses being released from the places where they are worked with or stored. The U.S. National Authority for Containment of Poliovirus (NAC) is responsible for implementing a containment plan for the United States. 

UMB leadership is committed to our university's compliance with the NAC's efforts. The NAC containment plan includes the following important components: identify, destroy, and contain or transfer.

Identify

The NAC developed a survey to identify facilities that possess infectious and potentially infectious poliovirus materials. As poliovirus could be present in a variety of mediums, the survey is not restricted to laboratories that work directly with poliovirus stocks.

Any facility that tests, extracts, handles, or stores biological samples from humans, experimentally infected animals, sewage, or environmental waters should complete the survey. With the biomedical focus of UMB's research enterprise, this means every "wet" laboratory on campus should complete the National Inventory for Poliovirus Containment Survey. 

For any suspected infectious or potentially infectious poliovirus materials (definition here), please contact matthew.fischer@umaryland.edu (UMB Biosafety Officer) and poliocontainment@cdc.gov (NAC). 

Destroy

Unneeded or nonessential poliovirus materials should be destroyed or inactivated. With both the quantity of poliovirus materials and the number of facilities that possess them reduced, the risk of inadvertent release is lowered. Preferred methods of destruction include autoclaving and incineration. 

A Destruction Attestation Form should be completed and submitted to the NAC.

Contain or Transfer

To continue to possess and work with wild and vaccine-derived poliovirus types 2 and 3 and oral polio vaccine type 2 infectious materials, a facility must be certified by the NAC as a Poliovirus Essential Facility (PEF) in accordance with the World Health Organization's GAPIV plan. There will be a limited number of PEFs in the United States. At this time, UMB is not planning on pursuing status as a PEF. 

Scientifically valuable samples that are not destroyed should be transferred to a certified PEF. 

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