Science On top of relentless bombings and artillery strikes, mass displacement, the collapse of the health system, and starvation, the children of Gaza now face an additional health disaster: a high risk of paralytic polio.
On 16 July, the Ministry of Health of Gaza announced poliovirus had been detected in six wastewater samples collected in late June at sites in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, two governorates of Gaza, an indication that the virus is circulating there.
So far, no cases of paralysis caused by the virus have been reported, but given the chaos in the Gaza Strip, there could well be some that have gone undetected, says Hamid Jafari of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), an international partnership headquartered at the World Health Organization (WHO). Surveillance for all diseases, including polio, has been severely disrupted by the war, says Jafari, who directs polio operations in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region. Tens of thousands of children under age 5 are now at risk of contracting polio, and the possibility of international spread beyond Gaza cannot be ruled out, says WHO Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.