Criteria

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2024 case definition:[46]

Clinical criteria:

  • Acute onset of flaccid paralysis with decreased or absent tendon reflexes in the affected limbs, particularly in the absence of a more plausible diagnosis.

Laboratory criteria for confirmation:

  • Poliovirus detected by sequencing of the capsid region of the genome by the CDC Poliovirus Laboratory,

  • Poliovirus detected in an appropriate clinical specimen (e.g., stool [preferred], cerebrospinal fluid, oropharyngeal secretions) using a properly validated assay, and specimen unavailable for sequencing by the CDC Poliovirus Laboratory.

Criteria to distinguish new cases:

  • Post-polio syndrome is a condition that can affect survivors of poliovirus infection decades after recovering from their initial infection. A person with post-polio syndrome should not be enumerated as a new case.

Subtype(s) case definition and classification:

  • Poliovirus, nonparalytic poliovirus infection

    • Confirmed: meets confirmatory laboratory evidence.

  • Poliovirus, paralytic poliomyelitis

    • Meets clinical criteria and confirmatory laboratory evidence.

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