Polio and the World’s Paralysis

Disease Warfare by Israeli Design

By Angela Crane MD

Published: 28 Aug 2024, 01:20 pm Gaza time. Last updated: 28 Aug 2024, 04:53 pm Gaza time.


I am Dr. Angela Crane. Several months ago, I reached out to RebuildGaza24 to offer my insights on the medical challenges facing Gaza due to Israel’s ongoing military actions. As I explored the various illnesses affecting Palestinians in Gaza, a troubling common denominator has emerged: contaminated water. This dire situation has led to outbreaks of hepatitis A, numerous skin infections, and the alarming reemergence of polio.

This post will specifically focus on polio, a viral illness that can lead to paralysis and is transmitted through contaminated water, food, or contact with an infected person via fecal matter or respiratory droplets.

While polio, an incurable illness, primarily affects children under the age of five, it can also pose serious health risks to people from various age categories if they have never received their polio shots at an earlier age. Approximately 0.5% of those infected may develop irreversible paralysis, and among those affected, 5-10% may die if their respiratory muscles are compromised.

Given the dire conditions in Gaza, where many are surrounded by decaying bodies and face severe shortages of clean water and food, there is a grave risk that polio could become an endemic and spread further. Most individuals infected with polio will experience little to no symptoms; however, of those who do become ill, some may develop paralysis, and it may be fatal.

Though the WHO has called for a humanitarian pause to facilitate vaccination efforts in Gaza, however, such pauses alone are insufficient to ensure that children and vulnerable populations receive the necessary immunizations to prevent the spread of polio and other infectious diseases.

A permanent ceasefire is essential to prioritize the right initiatives and protect not only the people of Gaza but also the broader region and the world from a potential health crisis.

Fortunately, organizations like Rebuildgaza24.com are working to provide clean water to communities in Gaza, which is a crucial aspect of prevention. However, this effort cannot replace the need for vaccinations, and a ceasefire is necessary to effectively eradicate polio and prevent a global resurgence of the disease.

Editor’s note: It is worth noting that at RebuildGaza24, we do consult with a number of doctors on such critical matters. When it comes to vaccination, there is the question of whether children, whose immune systems have tremendously suffered, should be given the polio shots.

Some doctors we have consulted with are of the opinion that at such a time, a vaccine that could be life saving in normal conditions, may as well be life threatening in times of war in a closed and contaminated area such as the situation in Gaza. This puts Palestinians in Gaza between a rock and a hard place. Vaccines, when administered, lead to an elevated body temperature as the child’s immune system fights the rendered virus it was injected with.

Following 10 months of malnutrition, consuming contaminated water and injuries amid the lack of proper medication, such a vaccination campaign without the proper nutrition and medication at hand, could prove fatal to those children.

Under such circumstances, a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause that allows the entry of food, clean water and proper medication could be beneficial to the children and people of Gaza, and would allow for vaccines to be administered with minimal health risks.


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