A baby in Gaza has a strain of polio linked to mistakes in eradication campaign, experts say
Thursday, 29 August 2024 () The baby in Gaza who was recently paralyzed by polio was infected with a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated people shed in their waste. That's according to scientists who say the case is the result of βan unqualified failureβ of public health policy. The infection marked the first detection of polio in the war-torn Palestinian territory in more than 25 years. The virus paralyzed the lower part of one leg in the unvaccinated 10-month-old child. Scientists who have been reviewing polio outbreaks said it showed the failures of a global effort by the World Health Organization and its partners to fix serious problems in their largely successful campaign to eradicate the highly infectious disease.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is making an urgent plea for a humanitarian pause in Gaza to conduct a mass polio vaccination campaign. The situation is dire as bombs continue to fall, making it impossible to protect the children. The UN stresses that under the current conditions of...
Thursday, 29 August 2024 ()
