World health body warns tourists of polio threat in Israel

The world?s leading public health body issued a stark and unprecedented warning to tourists visiting Israel Wednesday, as the country stepped up its efforts to battle recently found incidence of the polio virus.

The World Health Organization warned of a medium to high likelihood of the virus spreading from Israel overseas, and cautioned tourists to make sure they were properly vaccinated before visiting Israel.

Tests on a sample of 1,000 children in southern Israel aged 10 and under in the past six weeks found 23 to be carrying the polio virus, Channel 2 reported on Wednesday night. None has contracted the disease, and health officials said the likelihood of people contracting it was very low. Still, the sample indicated that 2.3% of children in the south might be carriers.

The WHO warning came as the Health Ministry prepared to release a plan for vaccinating children in Israel?s south against the disease, which was also recently found in some 30 sewage samples by the WHO.

Hundreds of parents have taken their children for additional vaccines in the past few days, and the ministry is contemplating various methods to battle the virus, including the rare step of using a live-virus vaccine to inoculate children, Haaretz reported Wednesday.

Such a move would help protect those who are unvaccinated, but carries a risk of spreading infection to some with weak immune systems.

The ministry is also considering a mass inoculating program for some 200,000 people, according to press reports. It will release its plan on Sunday.

According to Channel 2, Israeli health officials considered the WHO warning to be unjustified given Israel?s ongoing efforts to grapple with an outbreak of the virus.

While there?s need for caution, but ?no one is sick,? Boaz Lev, an official in the Health Ministry told Channel 2. Though 95 percent of Israel?s population was vaccinated, at the end of the day the virus ?could find someone who?s at risk,? which is why it needs to be stopped as soon as possible, he stated.

The 95% of people already vaccinated can?t get the disease but could be carriers, Lev explained. If indeed a decision was made to deliver more vaccinations, they?d be a different type ? targeting the intestines and preventing the child from being a carrier of the virus.

Israel?s tourism ministry was reported to be seeking to calm international concerns over the issue, with reports that travel agencies in the UK, Holland, Italy and the Ukraine have expressed concern as to whether it was safe for their national to visit here.

In July, the WHO confirmed polio was detected in some 30 sewage samples across the south of Israel. Authorities believed the virus originated either in Pakistan or Egypt, however it was unclear how it crossed into the country.

Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/world-health-body-warns-tourists-of-polio-threat-in-israel/

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