Gaza Health Ministry declares Palestinian territory ‘polio outbreak zone’

The Hamas government’s health ministry for the Gaza Strip declared the Palestinian territory “polio outbreak area”accusing the Israeli army of causing the re-emergence of the virus. “The Israeli aggression that deprived the population of usable water, the destruction of sanitary infrastructures, the accumulation of tons of garbage and the absence of food security” led to this situation, Hamas lambasted.

The presence of the virus “poses a threat to the health of the people of the Gaza Strip and neighbouring countries, and a setback for the global polio eradication programme”he added in his statement, without specifying whether any cases of polio had been reported in humans in the small territory. The CPV2 strain of the virus was detected in samples of sewage taken in the Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip and in the governorates in the center of the Palestinian territory, the ministry assured.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had expressed serious concerns about a possible polio outbreak in the Gaza Strip, which is facing a serious health crisis after nearly ten months of war between Hamas and the Israeli army. On July 16, the Global Polio Laboratory Network isolated type 2 poliovirus, derived from a vaccine strain, from six wastewater samples in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

“The presence of vaccine-derived poliovirus in sewage most likely means it exists somewhere in people”WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters. “But again, about 75% of people infected with polio have no symptoms. That means the virus is very likely present in the population, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an outbreak.”he added, while stressing the need for“a vaccine distribution campaign throughout the Gaza Strip”.