The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the first case of polio in Gaza in over 25 years, as the war-torn region faces a new health crisis.
A ten-month-old baby has been paralysed by the virus, marking the first confirmed polio case in Gaza in more than two decades.
Last month, the WHO warned that polio had been detected in Gaza and cautioned that children in the area were at imminent risk of infection unless urgent preventive measures were taken.
Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is a highly contagious virus primarily transmitted through the faecal-oral route. It can severely damage the nervous system, leading to paralysis and even death, particularly in young children.
UN Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern over the development, noting that genomic sequencing has linked the virus to a variant of poliovirus type 2 found in environmental samples collected from Gaza’s wastewater in June.
The child, who has been left paralysed in the lower left leg, is reported to be in stable condition. Dr Tedros, in a post on X, highlighted the urgent need to prevent the spread of poliovirus in Gaza and the wider region.
He announced that the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in collaboration with WHO and UNICEF, is preparing to launch two rounds of polio vaccinations in the coming weeks to halt the virus’s transmission.
The threat of polio comes as repeated evacuation orders continue to displace thousands in #Gaza’s cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, adding to the physical and mental strain on an already suffering population.
No one is safe, nowhere is safe. People have barely any… pic.twitter.com/rYgjNepbeg
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) August 22, 2024
