New approaches to poliovirus diagnosis using laboratory techniques: memorandum from a WHO meeting.

Laboratory diagnosis of poliomyelitis is an important part of the WHO initiative for global eradication of poliomyelitis. During the last year, new methods have been developed for the detection of poliovirus in clinical specimens, for intratypic differentiation, for the analysis of poliovirus neurovirulence, and for the detection of poliovirus antibodies. Progress in laboratory techniques for detection of poliovirus antibodies and for characterization of poliovirus isolates has suggested several new approaches to poliovirus diagnosis using laboratory techniques.