The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is a high risk of the polio virus spreading across the Gaza Strip and beyond its borders due to the dire health and sanitation situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
It stated that tests conducted have shown that there is vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in sewage samples from Gaza, indicating its presence in the environment.
According to Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO’s team lead for health emergencies in Gaza and the West Bank, “There is a high risk of spreading of the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in Gaza, not only due to the detection but because of the very dire situation with the water sanitation, It may also spill over internationally, at a very high point.
Saparbekov said WHO and UNICEF workers were scheduled to arrive in Gaza on Thursday to collect human stool samples as part of a risk assessment related to the discovery of the virus.
He said the assessment, which he hoped would be completed by the end of the week, would allow health officials to issue recommendations, including the need for a mass vaccination campaign as well as what kind of vaccine should be used and what the age group of the population that will need to be vaccinated.
Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. It affects children under the age of 5.
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that it will begin administering polio vaccines to its soldiers stationed in the Gaza Strip. This decision follows the discovery of poliovirus remnants in test samples from various areas within the Gaza Strip.
The military also said that with the cooperation of international groups enough vaccines had been brought in to cover more than one million people in Gaza, which has a total population of around 2.3 million.
Without proper health services, the population of Gaza is at a heightened risk of disease outbreaks, according to public health officials and aid groups.
Aydil Saparbekov, WHO’s team lead for health emergencies, expressed grave concern about the potential for an outbreak in Gaza.
“I’m extremely worried about an outbreak happening in Gaza, not just polio, but also other communicable diseases,” he stated.
