Isolation and characterization of a highly evolved type 3 vaccine-derived poliovirus in China

In this study, we report the identification and characterization of a highly evolved type 3 vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) strain designated as WIV14, isolated in 2014 from a 4-year-old child suspected of having an enteroviral infection in China. Complete genome sequence of WIV14 revealed multiple nucleotide substitutions when compared with the attenuated poliovirus (PV) Sabin 3, including the reversion of three major attenuation sites to wild type. From the nucleotide divergence for the P1/capsid region, we estimated that the evolution time of WIV14 was more than 7 years, indicating the possible long time of replication. WIV14 strain seemed to have differences in biological characteristics compared with attenuated PV strains, such as being non-temperature-sensitive and producing large plaques. The current isolation of a highly divergent type 3 VDPV gives an idea of the risk of emergent VDPV strains, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage and herd immunity against PVs in China.