WHO: Polio cases 'very likely' in Gaza population

It is very likely that polio has infected people in the Gaza Strip, in what would be a setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Gaza's health ministry declared a polio epidemic across the Palestinian enclave late on Monday after samples of the virus were found in sewage. It has not announced any human cases.

According to the WHO, polio is now endemic only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but more than 30 countries are still listed as subject to outbreaks, including Gaza's neighbors Egypt and Israel. Any country risks a return of polio if outbreaks are not contained with mass vaccinations.

The WHO's Christian Lindmeier told a UN press briefing that people had probably already been infected in Gaza but that detecting cases can be difficult since most cases of the potentially deadly viral disease are asymptomatic.

"Having vaccine-derived polio virus in the sewage very likely means that it's out there somewhere in people," he said. "So the risk of (it)... spreading further is there and it would be a setback definitely (for global efforts)."

He said an investigation and risk assessment was under way in Gaza.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the faucal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in young children.

Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.


Reuters