‘Ticking time bomb’: Poliovirus found in Gaza sewage
Al Jazeera
Looming health disaster for displaced Palestinians living in tent camps, where sewage flows freely, contaminating water.
Poliovirus has been detected in samples of sewage water in the densely populated Gaza Strip, placing “thousands” of Palestinians at risk of contracting the highly infectious disease that can cause paralysis.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said it had detected “component poliovirus type 2” in coordination with UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency.
“Detecting the virus that causes polio in wastewater heralds a real health disaster and exposes thousands of residents to the risk of contracting polio,” it said on Thursday in a statement.
The virus could be found in sewage “that collects and flows between the tents of the displaced”, said the ministry. Already scarce supplies of drinking water in the densely populated Strip are at risk of being contaminated by the virus.
Authorities in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah this week predicted that “roads will be flooded by wastewater” and “diseases will spread” after it turned off sewage water pumping and treatment stations.
