Three more children test positive for polio in northern Israel

Three more children have been diagnosed with polio after an 8-year-old child in the northern city of Safed tested positive for the virus on Monday.

A Health Ministry statement says that the three children had been in contact with the infected child, who was unvaccinated, and tested positive for the polio virus despite not having any symptoms (most polio cases are asymptomatic but the illness can be severe and even life-threatening in a small number of cases).

The ministry does not reveal the vaccination status of the three children who tested positive.

“In recent months, there is evidence of a spread of polio in many sewerage systems in Israel, which has more than 150,000 children unvaccinated against the virus,” the statement warns.