Poliovirus is detected in Gaza as “dire” conditions ignite fears of infectious diseases spreading

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that there is a “high risk” of polio spreading in Gaza and beyond, after variant poliovirus (VDPV) type 2 was detected in Gaza’s sewage.1While the virus has so far been isolated only from the environment, with no paralytic cases yet detected, Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO’s team lead for health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, warned that vaccine derived poliovirus could spread because of the “very dire situation with the water sanitation” in Gaza and may also “spill over internationally, at a very high point.”2The UN has also expressed concern over the rise of numerous other infectious diseases “due to shortages of clean water, overcrowding, and abysmal sanitation and hygiene conditions.”From 7 October last year to 7 July WHO recorded 990 000 cases of acute respiratory infections, 574 000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea, 107 000 cases of jaundice syndrome, and 12 000 cases…
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