Absence of Antibody Response to Simian Virus 40 after Inoculation with Killed-Poliovirus Vaccine of Mothers of Offspring with Neurologic Tumors

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Abstract
To the Editor: Simian virus 40 (SV40), a DNA papovavirus, causes a widespread latent infection in Asian monkeys. It was an unrecognized contaminant of viral vaccines prepared from pools of simian kidney cultures and administered to millions of persons from 1954 to 1962. Procedures for manufacturing vaccines were changed in 1961 to prevent contamination with SV40.1 SV40 antibodies had been detected after immunization with killed-poliovirus vaccine before this.2 Although SV40 also contaminated oral polio vaccine, it is difficult to induce SV40 infections, even experimentally, except by inoculation. Newborn animals are more susceptible than older animals. SV40 has been found to . . .