Early work by Hammond at al. showed gamma globulin to be effective for the prevention of poliomyelitis. Therefore, passive immunotherapy could be another way to treat chronic excretors. Even though prior attempts to use intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and breast milk were unsuccessful, there is reason to think that higher doses of antipoliovirus antibodies could result in complete clearance of poliovirus from chronically infected individuals. Six poliovirus-neutralizing MAbs were recovered from a combinatorial Fab phage display library constructed from bone marrow-derived lymphocytes of immunized chimpanzees. The six MAbs neutralized vaccine strains and virulent strains of poliovirus. Five MAbs were serotype specific, while one MAb cross-neutralized serotypes 1 and 2. Both serotype 2-specific antibodies recognized antigenic site 1. No escape mutants to serotype 3-specific MAbs could be generated. The administration of a serotype 1-specific MAb to transgenic mice susceptible to poliovirus at a dose of 5 µg/mouse completely protected them from paralysis after challenge with a lethal dose of wild-type poliovirus. Moreover, MAb injection 6 or 12 h after virus infection provided significant protection. This application claims the antibodies described above and methods for their use.