Officials step up vaccination campaign amid fears of wider outbreak
With a polio outbreak centered in Jerusalem, the World Health Organization has reported an “outbreak” in Israel.
After being declared free of the disease in 1988, the Jewish state now appears with 28 other countries on the list of nations where a global initiative for the eradication of poliomyelitis has been undertaken.
Countries like Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and Ukraine are also on the list of countries where the virus was contained but resurfaced, while Afghanistan and Pakistan are considered endemic countries. .
Last month, the first case of poliomyelitis in more than 30 years was confirmed in Jerusalem, causing serious concern and a new vaccination campaign.
According to the latest Health Ministry figures released last week, six cases of polio have been confirmed, all of them unvaccinated patients.
There is also the high likelihood of another case in an unvaccinated child, and a potential eighth case that is under investigation. Traces of the disease have also been detected in the sewers of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Tiberias and Modiin Illit.
Over the past month, more than 18,000 children in the capital region have received a dose of polio vaccine as part of the Ministry of Health’s immunization campaign.
Experts have also warned of the real prospect of a resurgence in polio cases – in manageable numbers but enough to leave some children with long-term damage.
Traces of the virus have occasionally been found in sewage samples in Israel, but have not resulted in any clinical cases for several decades.