• alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    One thing I don’t understand is, how can polio resurface after 24 years?

    I am tempted to think that it was intentionally released, but perhaps someone has a less evil explanation?

    • aramis87@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      There are two types of polio vaccine: inactivated polio virus (given by a shot) and oral polio virus (OPV). OPV is a lot easier to give in rural and impoverished areas, or areas where it may be difficult for healthcare workers to get access. However, because it’s given orally and because it contains a very weak but live form of polio virus, there’s the chance that the recipient (while immune themselves) may continue to replicate and carry the virus in their intestinal tract. They may then pass the virus in their feces.

      In an area with a functioning sewage system, this is generally a negligible risk. In an area where everyone is vaccinated and has a functioning immune system, this is generally a negligible risk. In an area where possibly not everyone is vaccinated, or where people’s bodies are starting to break down due to starvation, and where the sewage system has been deliberately blown up, this is almost inevitable.

      This is also intentional. In the concentration camps, a significant portion of the deaths were due to diseases that ripped through the camps, where the inmates were severely and deliberately malnourished, chronically overworked, had minimal protection from the elements, and were provided little hygiene or healthcare. The only difference with Gaza is that it’s a bigger camp, and instead of being overworked, the inmates are repeatedly forced to move from one area to another to another.

      • xhrit@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The only difference with Gaza is that it’s a bigger camp, and instead of being overworked, the inmates are repeatedly forced to move from one area to another to another.

        The main difference is that the elected government of Gaza can stop what is happening at any time by releasing the hostages and surrendering.

        If you can stop what is happening by releasing the hostages and surrendering, then what is happening is not genocide, it is a military operation to rescue hostages and defeat those responsible for kidnapping them.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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      3 months ago

      It could spread from other places where it exists. Syria would be the most likely source given its geographic proximity.

      Alternatively, there are vaccines that use a semi-disabled live virus. While normally harmless, in war with lots of opportunities for transmission and many many people with weakened immune systems, it is possible for it to mutate back into the dangerous form of the virus. This was known to happen in the US in the last few years.