Israel: More sewage samples positive for polio, President Shimon Peres urges all Israelis to get their kids inoculated
In a follow up to a report in mid-August, the number of sewage samples collected in Israel that are positive for wild poliovirus 1 (WPV1) continue to grow, according to a Global Polio Eradication Initiative update.
The latest data shows that WPV1 has been detected in 85 sewage samples from 27 sampling sites in Israel, collected from 3 February to 18 August 2013.
Initially restricted to southern Israel, WPV1 has now also been detected in environmental sampling sites elsewhere in Israel, indicating transmission throughout the country. A sampling site in Tulkarem in the West Bank has also reported a positive sample, collected on 30 June. No case of paralytic polio has been reported in either Israel or the West Bank and Gaza.
An immunization campaign with bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) targeting children up to the age of nine years has been expanded from just the southern district of Israel, to all the country in the past couple weeks.
Israeli President Shimon Peres earlier this week urged all Israelis to get their kids inoculated, while recalling a personal story about polio in a Israel Today report last week.
“One of my children was a victim of polio at the age of 8 months,” Peres recalled. “My wife Sonya and I were at his bedside as he was feverish and shivering in pain for three days and three nights. We were helpless. For the next year and a half later my son was paralyzed in the lower body.”
Peres’ son eventually experienced a near full recovery. However, this prompted the President to say, “I call on all parents in Israel – prevent your children from suffering – it’s within your power!”
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[…] addition, closely related wild poliovirus strains have also been detected in environmental samples in Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip since February […]
[…] a follow-up to reports of poliovirus positive sewage samples in Israel, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now reporting that samples collected by the Palestinian […]
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