On Friday, Palestinian health officials reported the first polio case in years in the Gaza Strip. Officials said the child lives in Deir al-Balah, a city north of Khan Yunis. The child’s symptoms were identified and tests conducted in Amman, Jordan confirmed the diagnosis, according to the Ministry.
Polio is a potentially fatal paralyzing illness that typically affects children under five years old and is usually transmitted through contaminated water. Only Pakistan and Afghanistan have never stopped transmitting polio.
The United Nations’ health and children’s agencies have requested seven-day ceasefire from the end of August to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children against polio. Poliovirus was found in sewage water samples collected from two major cities of Gaza last month which had been polio free for 25 years, UN stated.
Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 at the start of the latest war killing approx. 1200 people while abducting over 250 hostages, members of humanitarian community have warned about resurgent Polio again. In three months during this year’s ten month conflict Israel tore through tens of thousands of Gazan lives in its devastating retaliatory offensive creating a severe humanitarian crisis constituting a public health emergency according to health authorities.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) findings published in July this year type two variant has been found in wastewater sample from southern Khan Younis and central Deir al-Balah and is associated with a poliovirus variant last detected in Egypt back in 2023.
Earlier today WHO did not confirm that there are cases of polio but earlier today it announced that three children have been diagnosed with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) – one symptom common with symptoms seen among patients infected by poliovirus which starts as weakness or paralysis with decreased muscle tone
Over 1.6 million doses vaccines would be expected to arrive Gaza by August ending for use during vaccination campaigns which are supposed to proceed in two rounds, WHO stated. Each of the children should be given two oral drops of polio vaccine type 2.
Health officials in Gaza said on Friday that they will be unable to prevent the spread and treat people without an immediate cease-fire in place.
