[A case of vaccination-induced polio]

We describe a 69 year-old female who became ill with polio after having changed the nappies of her grandchild who, six weeks earlier, had been vaccinated with oral live-vaccine against polio. Anamnesis and neurological status with limp paralysis in both legs oblige, with their implications, that the patient be isolated initially. Proof of poliomyelitis was to be found, in addition to typical medical findings, in the virus analysis in the stool, determined by polymerase chain reaction and in the discovery of antibodies from the serum by means of a neutralisation test. The neurological disorders could not be treated medically. The main priority was intensive physiotherapy. With walking aids the patient had only limited walking ability three months later.

Discussed are: the meaning of anamnesis and specific diagnosis of illness and immune deficiency, the morbidity and necessity for certain protection against children recently vaccinated with live-vaccine, also the provision for an individually structured plan for vaccination after satisfactory information.