Growing evidence indicate that Israel is not going to lift the punishing blockade on crucial supplies or cease its deadly bombardment on the devastated Palestinian enclave, raising fears of an impending polio breakout in Gaza.
After traces of the virus were found in wastewater on July 30, Gaza’s Health Ministry declared the Palestinian territory a “polio epidemic zone,” raising concerns about the possibility of a recurrence of a disease that had been eradicated from the area more than 25 years earlier.
Experts see an epidemic of the viral disease as “inevitable,” given the millions of displaced Palestinians living in deplorable conditions without access to basic medical supplies or healthcare facilities.
Gaza Response Director for global humanitarian agency CARE International, Francis Hughes, said on Friday that “We’re expecting a polio outbreak in the next number of days or weeks.
Polio is a particular threat to children under age 5 and especially infants less than 2 years old. The virus attacks the nervous system, leading to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and can prove fatal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said last month that the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) was found at six locations in sewage samples collected on June 23 from Gaza’s Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah areas.
According to the UN health agency, wild poliovirus was eliminated from the occupied Palestinian territories a quarter of a century ago.
With the detection of the virus, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said the agency “considers there to be a high risk of spread of this strain within Gaza, and internationally, particularly given the impact the current situation continues to have on public health services.”
No clinical cases have been confirmed in Gaza so far but that is primarily due to a lack of surveillance and testing facilities.
As for immunization, he said vaccination rates in occupied Palestinian territories were “optimal” before the war, with routine coverage at 95% and above in 2022.
Most of Gaza’s infrastructure has been completely destroyed in Israel’s ongoing offensive, which has now killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and wounded almost 92,000.
This includes water and sewage treatment plants, as well as basic water supply infrastructure such as pipes, while access to water trucks is also gone as Israel is not letting in any fuel.
People throughout Gaza are forced to drink contaminated water and seawater.
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