10-month-old baby paralysed in first Gaza case of type 2 polio for 25 years, WHO says

UN agencies have called for Israel and Hamas to agree to a seven-day humanitarian pause to allow vaccination campaigns to proceed

The scene after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza (AP)

A 10-month-old baby in war-shattered Gaza has been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

The type 2 virus (cVDPV2), while not inherently more dangerous than types 1 and 3, has been responsible for most outbreaks in recent years, especially in areas with low vaccination rates.

UN agencies have called for Israel and Hamas to agree to a seven-day humanitarian pause in their 10-month war to allow vaccination campaigns to proceed in the territory.

“Polio does not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Friday in a post on Twitter/X.

“Delaying a humanitarian pause will increase the risk of spread among children,” Mr Lazzarini added.

The baby, who has lost movement in his lower left leg, is currently in stable condition, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

The WHO has announced that two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are set to begin in late August and September 2024 across the densely populated Gaza Strip.

With its health services widely damaged or destroyed by fighting, and raw sewage spreading amid a breakdown in sanitation infrastructure, Gaza’s population is particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease.

Gaza’s health ministry first reported the polio case in the unvaccinated 10-month-old baby a week ago in the central city of Deir al-Balah, an often embattled area in the war.

The Israeli military’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) said it was coordinating with Palestinians to procure 43,000 vials of vaccine, each with multiple doses, for delivery in Israel in the coming weeks for transfer to Gaza.

The vaccines should be sufficient for two rounds of doses for more than a million children, COGAT added.

As well as allowing the entry of polo specialists into Gaza, the UN has said a successful campaign would require transport for vaccines and refrigeration equipment at every step as well as conditions that would allow the campaign to reach children in every area of the rubble-clogged territory.

Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious virus primarily spread through the fecal-oral route, can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.

Traces of polio were detected last month in sewage in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, two areas in southern and central Gaza that have seen hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting seek shelter.

Children under five are particularly at risk.

Reuters