Gaza\u2019s health ministry has declared a polio epidemic across the Palestinian enclave, blaming Israel\u2019s devastating military offensive for the spread of the deadly virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement on Telegram, the ministry on Monday said the situation \u201cposes a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighbouring countries\u201d \u2013 the latest sign of a worsening public health emergency caused by Israel\u2019s genocidal war since October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calling the epidemic a \u201csetback\u201d to the global polio eradication programme, the ministry called for an \u201cimmediate intervention to end the [Israeli] aggression and find radical solutions\u201d to lack of potable water and personal hygiene, damaged sewage networks and removal of tonnes of rubbish and solid waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99 percent worldwide since 1988, thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, and efforts continue to eradicate it everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, Gaza\u2019s health ministry said it had detected \u201ccomponent poliovirus type 2\u201d in coordination with the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF). The virus was found in sewage \u201cthat collects and flows between the tents of the displaced,\u201d said the ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already scarce supplies of drinking water in the densely-populated Gaza Strip are at risk of being contaminated by the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children from being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel\u2019s military, which said it has evidence of the \u201ccomponent polio virus type 2\u201d, said it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers in Gaza. Israel\u2019s war in Gaza has damaged and destroyed sewage and water systems, and sewage has spilled into the streets near some camps for the displaced Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, the UN reported that besides the detection of the polio virus, there has been a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is only the start of the wave of diseases the Gaza Strip is going to face,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir-al Balah in central Gaza. \u201cPalestinians have been living in makeshift tents without any bathrooms, without any hygiene, without access to water, sanitation. Sewage is everywhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care physician, told Al Jazeera in an interview earlier this month that the presence of the polio virus in sewage was a \u201cticking time bomb\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNormally if you have a case of polio, you\u2019re going to isolate them, you\u2019re going to make sure that they use a bathroom that nobody else uses, make sure that they\u2019re not in close proximity to other people, [but] that\u2019s impossible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have everybody clustering in refugee camps at the moment without vaccines for at least the past nine months, including children who would otherwise have been vaccinated for polio and adults who, in the setting of an outbreak, should receive a booster, including healthcare workers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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