People killed since October 7, 2023 Close Sources: Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza / UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) / Israeli authorities Disclaimer: Figures from Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and may periodically be late. Figures from Israeli authorities show that around 1,200 civilians and soldiers were killed in connection with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. 287 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 27, 2023. None of the figures have been confirmed by independent sources. The Palestinian figures are updated daily. Figures from Israel are updated at least twice a week. Close More information about the figures Reuters reports on Monday. The ministry states that the cause of the epidemic is Israel’s warfare in the Palestinian area. Earlier in July, polio was found in sewage samples from the war-torn Gaza Strip, both Israeli and Palestinian health authorities announced. Polio Over 90 per cent of those infected have no symptoms, but excrete virus in their faeces. 9 percent have unspecified, flu-like symptoms, while less than 1 percent develop paralysis. The paralysis can occur in muscles anywhere in the body, but most often muscle groups in the legs or arms are affected. If the muscles in the diaphragm are attacked, this can lead to severe breathing difficulties and, in the worst case, death. Symptoms: The infection usually only causes mild symptoms such as fever, muscle pain or nausea and vomiting. One per thousand of young children and one percent of adults get severe paralysis. Half of the paralysis regresses after weeks or months. One in ten with paralysis can be affected in the breathing muscles. 5-10 percent develop meningitis. In the early 1950s, three major polio epidemics ravaged this country. Several hundred children died before the polio vaccine was introduced. In 1951, 2,233 children and adults contracted the disease. In the years 1950 and 1953, almost 1,000 were affected. Over 300 of these children died. The mortality rate was 10 percent. In addition, many suffered meningitis, permanent paralysis and deformities of arms and legs. The vaccine: The vaccine against poliomyelitis was introduced in the 1956-57 school year in Norway. The disease then quickly came under control. The vaccine covers all three types of poliovirus, and consists of inactivated virus. The vaccine provides protection for 10 years. All children in Norway are offered the polio vaccine when they are 3, 5 and 12 months old. This is included in combination with a vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and meningitis. In 2nd grade and 10th grade, the children receive refresher doses. In 2013, 94 per cent of 2-year-olds had received the recommended three doses of DTP vaccine, which includes polio vaccine. Side effects: Inactivated polio vaccine given today has very few side effects, only mild local reactions or very rarely hives. After 1969, there has been no polio infection in Norway, apart from a few imported cases. After 1975, only five cases have been recorded – in 1975, 1981, 1982, 1987 and 1992. Three of these patients were infected in Pakistan. Two of the five were adults, two were immigrant children who had visited their parents’ homeland, and one case was a child adopted from abroad. Is not eradicated: Poliomyelitis is now eradicated in large parts of the world. In 2002, Europe was declared polio-free. But poliomyelitis still exists in some countries, see overview at the Institute of Public Health. When traveling to such areas, adults should take a booster vaccine. Risk: To prevent the disease from breaking out again, more than 85 percent of the population must be immune through vaccination. Otherwise, infectious, healthy people who come to Norway can infect unvaccinated people. Unvaccinated people can also become infected while travelling, and then infect others after returning home. Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also made similar findings, say the Israelis. Sewage in the streets Gaza’s Ministry of Health said it was samples taken by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) that prove the polio virus is present in Gaza. The WHO has previously found poliovirus type 2 in sewage at six different locations in the Gaza Strip. The sewage flows between the tents in the refugee camps where 90 percent of Gaza’s population now lives. The virus settles in the nervous system, and in the worst case can lead to major disabilities. The disease particularly affects children. Nine months of war have created “perfect conditions” for the polio virus to spread, according to the WHO. Photo: BASHAR TALEB / AFP Sending one million vaccines WHO announced on Friday that it is sending one million polio vaccines to Gaza. This was before any cases of infection had been discovered. – Without immediate action, it is only a matter of time before the virus reaches the thousands of children who are unprotected, wrote WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in an article in The Guardian. Before the war in the Gaza Strip broke out in October, 95 percent of those living there had been vaccinated against polio, according to the WHO. But during the war, over 24,000 children have been born there, the health organization estimates. They have not been vaccinated. The WHO also says that nine months of war have created “perfect conditions” for this type of disease to spread. Garbage is floating in the streets, and children are wading in sewers in Gaza. Photo: BASHAR TALEB / AFP Israel vaccinates the soldiers The polio virus also worries the Israeli defense forces. Earlier in July, it became known that Israeli soldiers can be vaccinated against polio before being sent into Gaza, wrote the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. According to the Israeli media, it is voluntary for the soldiers to take the vaccine. Israel’s Ministry of Health also stated that they are monitoring the situation and continually evaluating what is necessary to prevent the spread of infection to Israel. Published 29/07/2024, at 16.27 Updated 29.07.2024, at 16.59
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Polio epidemic in Gaza – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
