The World Health Organization considers Gaza to be at “high risk” of polio transmission, and assessments are still ongoing.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Poor medical and health conditions in the war-torn Palestinian enclave pose a major risk for the spread of the polio virus in the Gaza Strip and beyond, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

Ayadil Spalbekov, head of WHO’s health emergencies team in Gaza and the West Bank, said the type 2 polio virus, derived from a circulating vaccine, was isolated from environmental samples of sewage in Gaza.  

“The risk of spreading the vaccine-induced polio virus in Gaza is high, not only because of testing, but also because of the very difficult health conditions,” he told reporters in Geneva via video link from Jerusalem.

“It could also spread internationally.”

Spalbekov said WHO and UNICEF staff would arrive in Gaza on Thursday to collect human stool samples as part of a risk assessment related to the virus.During the week, health officials will make recommendations on “the need for large-scale vaccination campaigns, what types of vaccines should be used and what age groups should be targeted.”

Primarily spread through the fecal-oral route, the polio virus is a highly contagious virus that affects the nervous system and causes paralysis.   Children under the age of five are most often affected.

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it will begin vaccinating its soldiers working against polio in the Gaza Strip after the discovery of the contagious polio virus in the coastal strip.

The army also said that, in cooperation with international organizations, it had provided enough vaccines for more than a million people out of a total population of about 2.3 million in Gaza.

Reference

Author: MedBlog18 Blog Team

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