Differentiation of vaccine and wild-type polioviruses using polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis.

Genomic amplification followed by selective digestion of restriction enzymes was used to differentiate polioviruses. The method was based on conserved and variable components of the 5'-noncoding region. The differences between Sabin vaccine and wild-type viruses made it possible to identify rapidly an isolated poliovirus as vaccine-related or wild-type virus. A total of 60 isolates and strains were tested and all of them were correctly identified. This method is recommended as a sensitive, specific and rapid way to differentiate polioviruses in clinical isolates and environmental samples.