Studies of neutralising antibodies to SV40 in human sera

It has been suggested that the low levels of antibody to the simian polyoma virus SV40 found in human sera may be linked to the use of polio vaccines. Panels of sera from areas of the world with different vaccination histories were examined to see if consistent differences could be identified. In a total of 2,054 sera from the United Kingdom, 692 from Africa and 923 from Poland taken between 1985 and 1997, the seroprevalence was generally between 3 and 5%, although exceptionally one collection from Morocco had a prevalence of 100%, and one from Poland of 0.4%. The seroprevalence showed no obvious age-dependent increase and titres were low compared to post infection animal sera. The results are consistent with previous studies and reveal no general geographically based differences related to possible differences in vaccination history, but the origin of the SV40 antibody in human sera remains to be established.