Polio Cases Believed To Have Occurred In Gaza, UN Calls Suspension Orders Difficulty Vaccination

JAKARTA - A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said it was very likely polio had infected people in the Gaza Strip, which would be a setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease.

Gaza's Ministry of Health announced the polio epidemic throughout the Palestinian territories on Monday night, after samples of the virus were found in waste. The ministry has not announced any human cases.

According to WHO, polio is now only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, more than 30 countries are still listed as countries experiencing the outbreak, including neighboring Gaza, Egypt, and Israel.

It is said, every country is at risk of experiencing a polio return if the outbreak is not overcome by mass vaccination.

Christian Lindmeier of WHO said at a UN press conference, people may have been infected in Gaza. However, detecting cases can be difficult because most cases of the potentially deadly virus disease are asymptomatic.

"The polio virus originating from vaccines in wastewater is very likely to mean the virus is somewhere in the human body," he said.

"So, the risk of (virus) spreading further is there and this will be a setback (for global efforts)," he continued.

He said investigations and risk assessments were being carried out in Gaza.

The WHO itself has shipped more than 1 million vaccines to prevent children from being infected in Gaza. The Israeli military said last week it would soon start offering polio injections to its troops there.

Meanwhile, UN children's agency spokesman (UNICEF) James Elder said more than nine months of conflict had led to a 99 percent reduction in polio vaccination rates to 89 percent.

He voiced concerns about vaccines reaching people in need, given the limited access to humanity to and within the enclave.

"The mass transfer, the destruction of health infrastructure, a very unsafe operating environment, will make (vaccination) much more difficult, so that more and more children are at risk," he explained.

It is known, poliomielitis, which spreads mainly through the fecal-oral pathway, is a highly contagious virus that can attack the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in small children.

polio cases have decreased by 99 percent worldwide since 1988, thanks to the mass vaccination campaign and ongoing efforts to eradicate them completely.

Gaza's health ministry said more than 39,000 Palestinians had died since the latest conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.

Humanitarian workers say the death toll actually includes those who died from the disease is likely much higher, given the high number of cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and other diseases among people displaced by conflict.