WHO: 10-month-old baby paralyzed in left leg in Gaza’s first case of type 2 polio in 25 years

A 10-month-old baby in the Gaza Strip has been paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, the World Health Organization says, with UN agencies appealing for urgent vaccinations of every baby.

The type 2 virus (cVDPV2), while not inherently more dangerous than types 1 and 3, has been responsible for most outbreaks in recent years, especially in areas with low vaccination rates.

UN agencies have called for Israel and Hamas to agree to a seven-day humanitarian pause in the ongoing 10-month-old war to allow vaccination campaigns to proceed in the territory.

“Polio does not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli children,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says in a post on X.

“Delaying a humanitarian pause will increase the risk of spread among children,” Philippe Lazzarini adds.

Hamas political bureau official Izzat al-Rishq claims the terror group on August 16 supported a UN request for a seven-day pause in the fighting to vaccinate Gaza children against polio.

The baby, who has lost movement in his lower left leg, is currently in stable condition, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says in a statement.

The WHO has announced that two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are set to begin in late August and September 2024 across the densely populated Gaza Strip.

With its health services widely damaged or destroyed by fighting, and raw sewage spreading amid a breakdown in sanitation infrastructure, Gaza’s population is particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease.