Poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples from Gaza, putting thousands of people living in crowded displacement camps at risk of contracting the highly infectious disease that can cause deformities and paralysis.
Gaza’s health ministry said tests conducted with the UN children’s agency UNICEF “showed the presence of poliovirus” in the territory, which has been under a devastating Israeli military offensive since Hamas attacks on October 7.
The Israeli Health Ministry said type 2 poliovirus had been detected in Gaza sewage samples tested in an Israeli laboratory. It added that the World Health Organization had made similar findings.
“The presence of poliovirus in sewage that accumulates and flows between tents in displacement camps and into populated areas due to the destruction of infrastructure marks a new health disaster,” the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The ministry highlighted the “serious overpopulation” and “scarcity of water,” which is increasingly contaminated by sewage and the accumulation of waste. Israel’s refusal to allow hygiene products into the Gaza Strip “creates an environment conducive to the spread of various diseases.”
“The detection of poliovirus in wastewater constitutes a real health disaster and exposes thousands of people to the risk of contracting polio.”
UN agencies have been campaigning for four decades to eradicate polio, which is most often transmitted through sewage and contaminated water, but there has been a resurgence of the disease in recent years in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as a few isolated cases in Nigeria.
The ministry called for a halt to the Israeli offensive so that drinking water could be delivered and wastewater treatment could resume.
Authorities in Deir el-Balah, a city in central Gaza, announced this week that sewage treatment plants had been shut down due to a lack of fuel. They warned that roads “would be flooded with sewage” and that 700,000 civilians, mostly displaced, would be at risk of contracting diseases transmitted by sewage.
The Israeli Health Ministry said the samples “raise concerns about the presence of the virus in this region.” It added that Israeli health authorities were “monitoring and evaluating the necessary measures to prevent the risk of disease in Israel.”
News Source : www.theguardian.com
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