Gaza records first polio case in 25 years as UN chief urges pause to vaccinate thousands

Tests in Jordan confirmed disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old in the enclave

Palestinian children walk between tents used as temporary shelter and stagnant wastewater in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza. AFP

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Gaza has recorded its first polio case in 25 years, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Friday, after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a pause in the war to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children.

Tests conducted in Jordan confirmed the disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old from central Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said.

“Several specialised committees were formed to carry out a campaign with different tasks to limit the spread of the polio epidemic, with the participation of the World Health Organisation, Unicef, UNRWA, and a number of experts,” it said.

It said the ministry put the plan in place as a result of “the difficult health conditions that the Gaza Strip is going through, the spread of infectious diseases, the flow of sewage in the streets and between the tents of the displaced, the lack of personal hygiene supplies and potable water”.

The potentially fatal, paralysing disease mostly affects children under the age of five and typically spreads through contaminated water.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been eradicated.

According to the UN, Gaza has not registered a polio case for 25 years, although type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples collected from the territory's wastewater in June.

“Doctors suspected the presence of symptoms consistent with polio,” the Health Ministry said. “After conducting the necessary tests in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the infection was confirmed.”

The case was announced shortly after Mr Guterres called for two seven-day breaks in the Gaza war to vaccinate more than 640,000 children.

“Let’s be clear: the ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” Mr Guterres said on Friday.

“But in any case, a polio pause is a must. It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over.”

He appealed for “concrete assurances” to be provided quickly, warning that preventing and containing the spread of polio in the enclave would take an urgent and co-ordinated effort.

While the World Health Organisation did not confirm the polio case, it said on Friday that three children in Gaza were found with acute flaccid paralysis – the onset of weakness or paralysis with reduced muscle tone, a common symptom of polio.

The children's stool samples have been sent for testing to the Jordan National Polio Laboratory, the agency said.

More than 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine are expected to arrive in Gaza by the end of August, the WHO said, in time for the vaccination campaigns which would have to be conducted in two rounds. Children under 10 will be given two drops of the oral vaccine against type 2 poliovirus.

Health officials in Gaza warned they would not be able to stop the spread of polio and treat people without an urgent ceasefire in place.

The warning came as international mediators expressed hope that a ceasefire deal was within reach after two days of talks, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar on Friday. The mediators said that they plan to reconvene in Cairo next week to seal an agreement to stop the fighting which has killed more than 40.000 in the enclave.

Delegates have spent months trying to reach a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians detained by Israel.