Gaza, polio outbreak. Antony Blinken: US working with Israel on vaccination plan

The Gaza Strip's health ministry confirmed Friday the first case of polio in 25 years in the area. The infection was detected in a 10-month-old, unvaccinated child in the city of Deir Al-Balah.

On Monday, During his visit to Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was concerned about the emergence of polio in the Gaza Strip and said Washington was cooperating with the government Israel on the vaccination plan. He said he believes they will be able to get the plan underway in the coming weeks.

Also on Monday, Khalil al-Daqran, spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, told Reuters that “the health ministry, in cooperation with UNICEF, UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and the World Health Organization (WHO), collected seven samples of sewage from different parts of the country's central and southern governorates.”

The presence of polio virus was detected in six of the seven samples. – Therefore, it was announced that Gaza Strip It is a place affected by polio because there are many infected people there, he said.

– This disease (polio) is very dangerous and if the occupiers continue to close the crossings and deny access to vaccines, it will lead to a health catastrophe – he said.

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Reuters also spoke to a Palestinian mother who noticed disturbing skin symptoms on her one-month-old son.

Ghada al-Ghandour said that just days after he was born, “he had a rash on his skin, as if he had been burned.” When it didn't go away, she went to the hospital to get a diagnosis, whether it was polio or not.

“I'm afraid the situation will get worse and we will have more cases of polio spreading among children,” she admitted.

Israel announced on Sunday it will facilitate the transfer of polio vaccines to about one million children.

More than 43,000 vials of the vaccine are expected to arrive in Israel in the coming weeks and be sent to Gaza, the Israeli Defense Agency (COGAT), which handles civilian affairs related to the Palestinians, said in a statement. According to the agency, this would be enough for two rounds of vaccinations for some 640,000 children under the age of 10 residing in the territory.

>> “This may be the last chance” for a ceasefire <<

Earlier on Friday, UN and World Health Organization (WHO) called for a humanitarian ceasefire to vaccinate children.

“The most effective vaccine against polio would be peace, but whatever happens, a ceasefire is now necessary to vaccinate children,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.

A few weeks ago, the polio virus was already detected in sewage in the Gaza Strip. According to the WHO, it is possible that the virus has been circulating in the area since September of last year. WHO specialists and scientists from Israel have warned about the threat of a potential epidemic, which would also be dangerous for other countries in the region.

The war between the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas and the Israeli military has been going on for over 10 months. Over 40,000 Palestinians have died in it. The Gaza Strip is in ruins, there is a large-scale humanitarian crisis, and most of its inhabitants have become internally displaced. The medical infrastructure is badly damaged, as are the water and sewage systems, which favors the development of infectious diseases.

The polio virus causes a disease of the same name, also known as polio, which attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in just a few hours. It usually affects children under the age of five.

The virus spreads from person to person, usually through contaminated water. Infection occurs through the digestive tract, then the virus enters the blood, with which it is carried mainly to the central nervous system. Polio can lead to death if it paralyzes the respiratory muscles.

There is still no cure for polio, but after the invention of vaccines against the disease in the mid-20th century and their gradual spread, polio was eradicated in most countries of the world. Epidemiologists warned that polio outbreaks repeatedly broke out during armed conflicts and crises, even in countries where the disease had been virtually eradicated thanks to vaccines.