Short communication: Could the genexpert system be a new tool for poliovirus detection in the sewage water?

Environmental enterovirus surveillance plays a key role in the detection and identification of importation of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses into polio-free areas. In 2015, 2 cases of paralytic poliomyelitis caused by circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1), from south-western Ukraine, bordering Romania, were confirmed. Romania was considered a country at risk and the environmental enterovirus surveillance was enhanced. In this context we tried to find a diagnosis algorithm for the rapid detection of poliovirus (PV) in the sewage water, using a combination between a rapid molecular method for human enterovirus (HEV) detection using the GeneXpert system and the virus isolation on cell culture lines. By using this algorithm, we would be able to give a rapid response in an emergency situation, such as the risk of polio importation.