When Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov was in Gaza late last week, he saw a scene that’s become familiar since the war started: Sewage overflowing in the streets. Young children jumping and splashing in it.
He cringes knowing diseases might be festering in the water. And then he got word of another concern to add to his list: Polio. The virus has turned up in the enclave’s wastewater.
For more than 25 years, the Gaza Strip has been polio free. Then last week polio was detected in six out of seven routine sewage samples. “It's a very dangerous disease.
And, in the situation of Gaza, it's beyond dangerous,” says Saparbekov, the World Health Organization’s health emergency team lead for Gaza and the West Bank. The news sparked an international investigation. This week teams of investigators arrived in Gaza and fanned out in search of active cases of polio.
They're collecting stool samples, interviewing parents and combing through medical records in search of paralysis cases, one of the most serious symptoms of the disease. They haven’t found any cases yet but infectious disease experts say it’s likely circulating silently in the population with asymptomatic and mild cases. The investigators are also hoping to get a picture of the virus’ journey through Gaza and what to do about it “to get to the bottom of it,” Saparbekov says.
“How has this happened? When did it happen? And where did it happen?” Clues are beginning to emerge. How? When? Where? Saparbekov says valuabl.