-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email During the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago , half a dozen doctors assembled to protest the public health crisis caused by Israel's ongoing military onslaught in Gaza. While the physicians spoke in large part of bombs, gunfire and the other direct consequences of armed conflict, the region faces another serious threat: poliovirus, which has been detected in Gaza wastewater since July. "Polio could cause a serious epidemic in Israel, the region and beyond.
Polio and other infectious diseases know no boundaries." Partially conceding to the humanitarians' outrage, Israel announced on Thursday that it will implement a series of pauses in fighting throughout September to distribute vaccines. Perhaps Israel had no choice; the reality of a variant type 2 poliovirus outbreak in Gaza had the whole region bracing for a public health crisis.
Israel has already killed at least 40,000 people, including 16,000 children. Israel's military campaign began following the Hamas-led October 7th attack killed around 1,200 Israeli people, including many civilians and children. But a major epidemic would only make things worse and could potentially spread polio to other countries.
Related Why warzones are the perfect place for antibiotic resistance and what that means for Palestine Hence why on Monday more than 1.2 million doses of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 were delivered to Gaza, courtesy of a coalition of humanitarian groups includi.