Poliovirus has been found in sewage samples from Gaza, putting thousands of people living in overcrowded camps for displaced people at risk of contracting the highly contagious disease that can cause deformities and paralysis.
The Israeli Ministry of Health announced that poliovirus type 2 was detected in samples of Gaza sewage tested in an Israeli laboratory. The World Health Organization is said to have made similar findings.
“The presence of poliovirus in sewage that collects and flows between the tents of displacement camps and in populated areas due to the destruction of infrastructure marks a new health disaster,” the Gaza ministry said.
“Severe overcrowding” and “shortage of water” which is becoming polluted by sewage and garbage accumulation were highlighted. The ministry said Israel’s refusal to let hygiene supplies into Gaza “creates a favorable environment for the spread of various diseases.”
“The discovery of poliovirus in wastewater threatens a real health disaster and puts thousands of people at risk of contracting polio,” it said.
UN agencies have been campaigning for four decades to eradicate polio, which is most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, but in recent years there has been a resurgence in Afghanistan and Pakistan and a few isolated cases in Nigeria.
The ministry called for a halt to the Israeli offensive so that clean water can be brought in and sewage treatment can restart.
Authorities in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah announced this week that sewage treatment plants were closed due to a lack of fuel. They warned that roads “will be flooded with sewage” and that 700,000 civilians, most of them displaced, will be at risk of contracting sewage-borne diseases.
Israel’s health ministry said the samples “raise concerns about the presence of the virus in this region”. It added that Israeli health authorities are “monitoring and evaluating the necessary steps to prevent the risk of disease in Israel.”, Klix.ba writes.
