The Israeli military announced Sunday that it is starting optional polio vaccinations for soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip after the virus was found in sewage there.
With the cooperation of international groups, additional vaccines have been brought in for Gaza’s population, the army added.
The inoculation campaign comes one week after the Israeli Health Ministry reported that poliovirus type 2 was discovered in sewage samples from the Gaza Strip.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that is primarily spread through fecal-oral contamination, sometimes by drinking contaminated water, poor sanitation and poor control of sewage.
The shots will be offered to all Israeli forces serving in Gaza.
In December, an Israeli soldier died after being infected by a dangerous type of fungus found in the soil of the Gaza Strip.
The medical staff tried experimental treatments from abroad and brought in experts, but the fungus proved resistant and eventually overtook his organs, resulting in his death.
Around 10 additional soldiers were infected with the strain in Gaza, according to Professor Galia Rahab, chairperson of the Infectious Diseases Association and former director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan’s Tel HaShomer neighborhood.
Rahab said that these fungi were not seen in previous wars in the Strip and that the source may have been soil contaminated by sewage.
