Polio case confirmed in Gaza, potential for outbreak

Authorities declared Gaza polio-free in the late 1990s, but the World Health Organization reported last month that the virus had been found in sewage samples from the Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah. Two days ago, the WHO confirmed a case of polio in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Deir Al-Balah, the first in Gaza in 25 years. Other suspected cases have also been reported.

Polio is often an asymptomatic virus. This increases its ability to spread quickly. The more people infected, the greater the chance that some individuals will suffer severe complications such as paralysis and respiratory failure. Paralytic polio affects one in 200 people infected with the poliovirus.

The pathogen is transmitted through contact with the feces of an infected child or through consumption of water or food contaminated with feces.

Overcrowded housing, poor hygiene, limited access to clean water and raw sewage flowing openly between tents in Gaza's refugee camps increase the risk of all kinds of infectious diseases, both bacterial and viral, including polio. And Gaza's broken health system exacerbates the problem, allowing the polio virus to spread unchecked.

Amid growing concerns about multiple health crises, health experts and aid organizations around the world are again calling for a temporary or permanent ceasefire. The reason is that humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip are seriously hampered by the ongoing conflict. Health workers complain of problems in getting vital supplies to the population, including urgently needed vaccines for around 640,000 children. These must first be transported in specially designed refrigerated trucks that have to pass through checkpoints controlled by Israel or Egypt, and then delivered to clinics across the war-torn Gaza Strip.

According to Care International, due to severe disruptions in the health system, it is highly unlikely that at least 50,000 children born in Israel since the current huge spike in hostilities in October 2023 following Hamas attacks will have received their scheduled vaccinations.

The problem of possible polio epidemics is not limited to Gaza. Time The magazine reported that a 17-month-old Ukrainian girl contracted polio in October 2021, 19 years after European health authorities declared polio eradicated across the region. A second case of the disease emerged in December, followed by 20 more in the following months.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has severely impacted access to health care, including the provision of routine vaccinations in response to the 2021/2022 polio outbreak. There is now a high risk of spread due to the relatively low population immunization rate of around 75%.

The collateral damage that wars inflict on civilian populations is invariably enormous. This includes the destruction of homes and infrastructure, injuries and deaths from bombs and bullets, a rise in antibiotic resistance and the (re-)emergence of preventable diseases such as polio.