First polio case confirmed in Gaza, in 10-month-old child

The first case of polio has been recorded in an unvaccinated 10-month old-child in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the Palestinian health ministry says.

t is the first case in years in the coastal enclave engulfed in the Israel-Hamas war.

After discovering the child’s symptoms, tests were conducted in Jordan’s capital, Amman, and the case was confirmed to be polio, said the ministry.

The potentially fatal, paralysing disease mostly strikes children under five and typically spreads through contaminated water.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

The World Health Organisation did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the case.

The UN health and children’s agencies are calling for seven-day pauses in the war, starting at the end of August, to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children against polio, after the discovery of its virus in wastewater in two major cities last month.

Gaza has been polio free for the last 25 years, according to the UN.

In July, the World Health Organisation said a variant of type 2 was discovered in wastewater samples from southern Khan Younis and central Deir al-Balah, and linked to a variant of the polio virus last detected in Egypt in 2023.

While WHO did not confirm polio, it said on Friday that three children in Gaza were found with acute flaccid paralysis, the onset of weakness or paralysis with reduced muscle tone, a common symptom of polio.

The children’s stool samples have been sent for testing to the Jordan National Polio Laboratory, it said.

Published: 17/08/2024 by Radio NewsHub