Editor,—Immunisation against hepatitis B is recommended when there is an increased risk of contracting the virus because of lifestyle, occupation, or factors such as close contact with a case. Immunisation against poliomyelitis is routinely given to infants in the UK with reinforcement during childhood and then again in the teenage years. For those individuals at continued risk of infection, further reinforcing doses are given every 10 years.

Both are commonly used vaccines and serious adverse reactions are extremely rare. We describe a case of severe bilateral, progressive optic neuritis occurring 1 week after vaccination against hepatitis B and poliomyelitis.