TY - JOUR T1 - Infectious diseases are being allowed to run rampant in Gaza JF - BMJ JO - BMJ DO - 10.1136/bmj.q2186 VL - 387 SP - q2186 AU - Sah, Sameer Y1 - 2024/10/07 UR - https://www.bmj.com/content/387/bmj.q2186.abstract N2 - Without an immediate, permanent ceasefire and unrestricted aid, people in Gaza will continue to get ill and die from infectious diseases, writes Sameer SahThe multi-pronged public health and sanitation disaster, including destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, has strained the health system and resulted in the rapid spread of infectious diseases. More than 63% of buildings and 70% of sewage pumps1 have been damaged or destroyed, and no wastewater treatment plants are working.2 Most of the 1.9 million people who have been internally displaced3 are living in tents or sheltering in bombed-out buildings, with limited access to safe drinking water and facilities, and in streets full of untreated wastewater and sewage.Particularly worrying has been the re-appearance of polio. This June, variant poliovirus (cVDPV2) was detected in six sewage samples from different sites in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and, on 16 August, the Palestinian … ER -