Poliovirus was found in the following sewage samples: Gaza Thousands of people living in crowded camps are at risk of contracting a highly contagious disease that can cause disfigurement and paralysis.
The Gaza Ministry said tests carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicated the presence of the polio virus in the Gaza Strip, which has been under devastating Israeli military attack since the Oct. 7 Hamas offensive.
The Israeli Ministry of Health announced that poliovirus type 2 was detected in sewage samples from the Gaza Strip tested at an Israeli laboratory. health The organization also released similar findings.
The presence of poliovirus in wastewater that is collecting and flowing between tents and residential areas in the camps due to the destruction of infrastructure represents a new health disaster, it said. Gaza The ministry revealed this.
The ministry highlighted severe overcrowding and water shortages contaminated by sewage and the accumulation of garbage. It said Israel’s refusal to allow hygiene products into the Gaza Strip has created an environment ripe for the spread of various diseases.
If poliovirus is detected in wastewater, it poses a real health hazard and puts thousands of people at risk of infection. Polio.
UN agencies 40 years of polio eradication campaignIt is most often spread through sewage or contaminated water, but has recently resurfaced in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with some sporadic cases in Nigeria.
The ministry called for an end to Israeli attacks to allow safe water supplies and sewage treatment to resume.
Authorities in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Bala said this week that a sewage treatment plant had been closed due to fuel shortages. They warned that roads would be flooded with sewage and that 700,000 civilians, mostly displaced, would be at risk of contracting sewage-borne diseases.
The Israeli Health Ministry said the samples raise concern about the presence of the virus in the region, adding that Israeli health authorities were monitoring and assessing the necessary measures to prevent the risk of disease in Israel.
