Ministry: First polio case in the Gaza Strip
Published: Friday, Aug 16th 2024, 22:00
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According to Palestinian reports, the first case of polio has occurred in the Gaza Strip. According to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, an unvaccinated ten-month-old infant in Deir al-Balah in the center of the region had contracted the disease. Tests in the Jordanian capital Amman had revealed this.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously called for a pause in the fighting in the cut-off and largely destroyed coastal strip in order to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children against polio. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund, Unicef, urged a seven-day ceasefire.
Following the discovery of polio viruses in Gaza's waste water in July, the UN is planning mass vaccinations against polio. At the end of August and in September, more than 640,000 children up to the age of ten are to be protected against the virus in two rounds of vaccinations, as the WHO announced in Geneva. The UN health authority previously reported that three children in the Gaza Strip were suspected of having acute paralysis symptoms typical of polio.
Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis and death, especially in young children. The virus is often spread via contaminated water. There is currently no cure.
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