Thousands of Israeli children have been inoculated against the deadly polio virus, the Health Ministry announced Monday.
At least 16,790 children received a dose of polio vaccine in the ministry’s latest effort to ensure the population is protected against the virus.
Four children tested positive for polio this month, although only one had symptoms of the illness, the ministry said.
The first case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3 (cVDPV3) was detected on March 7 in an unvaccinated girl who was age three years and nine months and had developed acute flaccid paralysis.
Circulating VDPV3 was also confirmed in a sample taken from a contact in Jerusalem. This child does not display any symptoms of paralysis.
VDPV3-strains were detected in environmental samples collected between September 2021 and January 2022 from sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
“Detection of this cVDPV3 underscores the importance of strong disease surveillance and high population immunity levels, in order to minimize the risk and consequences of any poliovirus introduction or emergence,” according to the Polio Global Eradication Initiative.
Due to low immunization rates, the polio virus also reappeared in Ukraine last year, with an outbreak confirmed in October 2021. The isolated strain of that virus found in the diagnosed cases was tracked back to a poliovirus in Pakistan.
Although the country immediately began a campaign to vaccinate against the virus, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted that effort.
