‘It's a horrible picture': Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease
Medical supplies are desperately scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured in the 22-month war, while many others have been weakened by malnutrition, so the high levels of drug-resistant bacteria will mean longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases and more deaths, experts said.
The findings published on Tuesday, in a peer-reviewed research comment in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, are the first since the conflict began in October 2023 to suggest a prevalence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza.
'This will mean longer and more serious illnesses and a high risk of transmission to others. It means an increased risk of death from really common infections. It means more amputations. It's a horrible picture,' said Krystel Moussally, epidemiology adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières and a co-author of studies on drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza and other conflict zones in the Middle East, who was not involved in the research.
The study is based on more 1,300 samples from at al-Ahli hospital, where one of the few microbiology laboratories that is still functional in Gaza is based. Two-thirds of the samples, taken from patients over a 10-month period last year, showed the presence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria.
Bilal Irfan, one of the authors of the study, described the results as 'particularly alarming'.
'We don't even know the true scale because of the destruction of almost all the laboratories and the killing of a lot of the medical staff, so to even get a small insight into what is happening in Gaza is extremely important,' said Irfan, a bioethicist who conducts research at Harvard's Brigham and Women's hospital and the University of Michigan.
Gaza has suffered for decades from high levels of multi-drug-resistant bacteria as a consequence of repeated conflicts and an Israeli blockade since 2007, when Hamas seized control.
But the current context was unprecedented, experts said. Not only has Gaza's healthcare system been decimated but sanitation systems have been destroyed, the disposal of garbage and solid waste has almost stopped and hunger is widespread among the 2.3 million population, making many more vulnerable to infection.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said Israel should let it stock medical supplies to deal with a 'catastrophic' health situation in Gaza.
'We want to stock up, and we all hear about more humanitarian supplies are allowed in – well it's not happening yet, or it's happening at a way too low a pace,' said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Peeperkorn said Gaza had run out of more than half of medicines and the WHO was able to bring in fewer supplies than it wanted 'due to the cumbersome procedures' and products 'still denied' entry – a topic of constant negotiation with the Israeli authorities.
Peeperkorn said only 50% of hospitals and 38% of primary health care centres were functioning, and even then only partly. Bed occupancy has reached 240% capacity in the Al-Shifa hospital and 300% at Al-Ahli hospital, both in northern Gaza.
'The overall health situation remains catastrophic,' he said. 'Hunger and malnutrition continue to ravage Gaza'.
Israeli Ministry of Defence officials said more than 45,000 tonnes of medical equipment had been transferred to Gaza since the beginning of the war and 13 fully equipped field hospitals established by international aid organisations.
'Israel will continue to allow the entry of medical equipment and medicines into the Gaza Strip in accordance with international law and in coordination with the international community, while taking all possible measures to prevent the terrorist organisation Hamas from seizing the aid and exploiting it for terrorist and military purposes,' the officials said.
At least 89 Palestinians, 31 seeking aid, have been killed and 513 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the territory's health ministry.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has now killed a total of 61,599 Palestinians and injured 154,088 since 7 October 2023.
According to health officials in Gaza, at least 60,000 people have been killed during Israel's current military campaign, launched after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 which killed nearly 1,200 people.
The actual death toll is likely to be significantly higher, as the figure only includes Palestinians killed by bombs or bullets whose bodies have been recovered, leaving out thousands trapped under the rubble or killed by starvation and other indirect victims of the campaign.
According to the data – which includes the deaths of militants – women, children, and elderly people account for approximately 55% of the recorded deaths.
Three-quarters of the samples studied by Irfan and the other authors of the new study were taken from casualties suffering traumatic wounds inflicted by Israeli airstrikes or similar attacks.
In the Lancet, the authors said the threat from drug-resistant bacteria would escalate unless there was an end to the Israeli offensive and the 'deliberate targeting of hospitals, laboratories and water desalination plants'.
Moussally said that the problem had been made worse by massive contamination of water sources and 'no proper immunisation programmes' during the war.
The conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas into Israel in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 hostages, of whom 50 remain in Gaza. Only 20 are believed to still be alive.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Medical News Today
an hour ago
- Medical News Today
Subtle signs of multiple sclerosis may appear years before onset
Research is ongoing regarding when multiple sclerosis develops and strategies for prompt diagnosis. A recent study found that people who went on to develop multiple sclerosis had a much higher use of medical services up to 15 years prior to multiple sclerosis onset. The results suggest that multiple sclerosis develops earlier than researchers thought in the past, and could help with earlier management of the condition. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 'multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disorder.' There are multiple types, and people can experience symptoms like cognitive changes, vision changes, and even paralysis. A study recently published in JAMA Network Open looked at the use of healthcare services in the 25 years before MS symptom to a matched cohort of participants without MS, participants with this condition used healthcare services more than their peers in the 15 years before MS were able to identify specific visit reasons in certain timeframes, with mental health concerns and ill-defined signs and symptoms being some of the earliest results suggest that MS starts earlier, which may help with diagnosis and early intervention for the condition. What does medical treatment look like before MS diagnosis?For this research, experts wanted to learn more about the prodromal phase that may happen in MS, particularly looking at even earlier data than what has been previously studied. The study was conducted in British Columbia, Canada, and researchers used insurance data. They looked at hospital and doctor visits. They used the British Columbia MS clinical database to learn when participants first had MS symptoms. Researchers also had access to data on filled prescriptions and population data. Researchers were able to look at data from 2,038 participants with MS, as well as a matched cohort of 10,182 participants who did not have MS. After looking at the doctor visit rates each year in the 25 years prior to MS onset, researchers honed in on the 15 years before. This was when changes in health care visits the 15 years before MS onset, researchers identified more visits from MS participants for ill-defined signs and symptoms. In the 14 years before MS onset, researchers identified an increase in doctor visits, doctor visits related to mental health, and injury-related visits. The elevation in mental health visits was significant for most of the 14 years prior to MS onset, with the exception of years 7, 5, and 4. Overall, mental health visits were up 76%. Twelve years before MS onset, there started to be an increase in psychiatric visits, and this remained significant except in years 6 to 8, and year 4 before MS onset. Overall, the increase in psychiatric consultations was 159%. Increase in ophtalmology, nervous system-related doctor's appointmentsOphthalmology visits were increased 9 years before MS onset, except at year 6 and year 2, with the highest increase the year right before MS onset. In the 8 years before MS continued to be high prior to MS onset except at year 7 and year 5. The greatest spike was in the year right before MS onset. Visits for musculoskeletal-related problems were increased in the five years before MS year four and in the year leading up to MS onset, there was also an increase in visits for nervous system conditions, with a greater increase in the year before MS onset. Visits to the emergency room were greater 5 years before MS onset, radiology increased 3 years before, and internal medicine and neurosurgery increased one year before. Many healthcare visit upticks peaked in the year right before MS onset. For example, doctor visits and visits for injury, ill-defined signs and symptoms, sensory-organ concerns, and musculoskeletal-related problems peaked in the year before MS onset. Other types of visits were affected in specific years. For example, endocrine visits increased in year 9 prior to the onset of MS. At the same time, visits related to pregnancy and childbirth decreased to a significant level in years 2 and conditions also had distinct increases prior to MS onset. For example, researchers observed increases in anxiety and depression at years 4, 3 and 2. In the 2 years before MS onset, there was an increase in problems like dizziness and the year before MS onset, there was an increase in migraines and specific eye problems, such as retinal detachment. This data supports the idea that MS may start much sooner than experts previously believed and indicates the need for more research. The authors suggest that psychiatric and mental health concerns may be early features of the prodromal phase of MS, because these concerns started years before increases in visits related to the nervous system. Risk of MS overdiagnosis?While this research did allow for extensive follow-up, there are still limitations. First of all, researchers did not have data on some clinical information details. Instead, they had information on why participants sought out health care services. Second, there is some risk for misclassification or miscoding based on the data researchers used. There are also challenges of determining MS symptom onset, and researchers note that this 'may be influenced by recall bias and challenges with medical history taking.' Some participants had a claim for a demyelinating event or MS before the date designated as the 'MS symptom onset date.'It is possible there were some cases of MS that doctors could have diagnosed earlier. It's also possible that participants in the matched cohort had MS, in spite of evidence against this. This data focused on people with MS in British Columbia, Canada, and the majority of participants with MS were female, limiting researchers did not collect data on race or ethnicity, so more data specifying this could be helpful. They only corrected for some factors in the statistical analysis, which could have impacted the results. Burcu Zeydan, MD, an assistant professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in this research noted the following cautions to Medical News Today: 'We see that healthcare visits in the 'pre-MS diagnosis' period are mainly for rather nonspecific and/or common causes such as headaches, fatigue, and mental health issues. Since most of these individuals will never develop MS, identification of individuals in a possible MS prodrome carries the risk for overdiagnosis and overtreatment as well as a concern for causing unnecessary distress for individuals and families. There is also a possibility of missed opportunities for earlier recognition of MS by clinicians, which is supported by the rise in ophthalmology and neurology visits in the current study as pointed out by the authors. These should be considered in evaluating the MS prodrome.''MS may start earlier than previously thought'The research implies that MS starts earlier and delves into deeper questions about what may cause the condition. Study author Professor Helen Tremlett, PhD, in the Faculty of Medicine (Neurology) at the University of British Columbia, Canada, explained to MNT that:'MS may start earlier than we previously thought, and that is actually really important when we think about what causes MS… Our findings suggest we need to look back much further in time than we do, perhaps currently, to avoid thinking that something might cause MS, when, in actual fact, the disease has already started… There's potential here in the future, not currently, to recognize and perhaps diagnose and manage MS earlier than we can do currently, with the view of course of preventing or slowing progression of the disease.'Zeydan noted that, 'using the observations related to MS prodrome, [researchers] should aim to develop individual-level risk models, possibly a scoring system to reliably identify individuals that are at high risk for developing MS.''Biomarkers (blood and imaging) would be the key to this effort,' she told us. 'Perhaps age and sex differences and tools such as AI can help finetune MS risk prediction models,' Zeydan further hypothesized.'With a potential future multimodal biomarker panel, if people at high risk can be effectively identified in the MS prodrome, individualized disease screening methods can be implemented into MS care for these high-risk individuals,' she concluded.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Over 100 people killed in Gaza in 24 hours, officials say, marking deadliest day in a week
More than 100 people have been killed in Gaza within 24 hours, officials there have said - the deadliest day recorded in a week. The Gaza health ministry said 123 people were killed, adding to the tens of thousands of fatalities during the near two-year war raging in the Strip. It comes as officials said Israel's planned re-seizure of Gaza City, which it took in the early days of the war before withdrawing, is likely weeks away. Eastern areas of Gaza City were bombed heavily by Israeli planes and tanks, according to residents, who said that many homes were destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaia neighbourhoods overnight. Al-Ahli hospital said 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Zeitoun. Israeli tanks also destroyed several homes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medics said. 2:17 They added that in central Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed nine people seeking aid in two separate incidents. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) did not comment on this. The number of Palestinians who died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza has risen to 235, including 106 children, since the war began, following the death of eight more people, including three children, in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said. The malnutrition and hunger death figures have been reported by the Hamas-run ministry and have been disputed by Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday: "If we had a starvation policy, no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war." He also repeated the allegation that Hamas has been looting aid trucks and claimed uncollected food has been "rotting" at the border, blaming the UN for not distributing it. The latest death figures come as Hamas held further talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo with a focus on stopping the war, delivering aid and "enduring the suffering of our people in Gaza", an official for the group said in a statement. Egyptian security sources said the possibility of a comprehensive ceasefire would also be discussed. This would see Hamas relinquish governance in Gaza and concede its weapons, with a Hamas official saying the group was open to all ideas as long as Israel would end the war and pull out of Gaza. But the official added that "laying down arms before the occupation is dismissed as impossible". Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu reiterated that Palestinians should simply leave Gaza, an idea which has also been enthusiastically floated by US President Donald Trump. "They're not being pushed out, they'll be allowed to exit," Mr Netanyahu told Israeli television channel i24NEWS. "All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us." World leaders have rejected the idea of displacing the Gaza population, and Mr Netanyahu's plan to expand military control over Gaza, which Israeli sources said could be launched in October, has increased global outcry over the widespread devastation, displacement and hunger in the enclave. 0:59 The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is at "unimaginable levels", Britain and 26 partners said in a statement on Tuesday, warning: "Famine is unfolding before our eyes." The statement added: "Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation. Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised." It was signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas killed about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducted 251 others in its attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. It is believed Hamas is still holding 50 captives, with 20 believed to be alive.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Second botulism death linked to food truck sandwich
Two people have died in Italy from botulism after consuming contaminated broccoli and sausage sandwiches from a food truck in Diamante, Calabria. The victims, Tamara D'Acunto, 45, and Luigi Di Sarno, 52, both succumbed to the rare, life-threatening disease, with over 17 other people hospitalised. Authorities have seized broccoli jars from the food truck business as part of their investigation into the outbreak. Separately, a 38-year-old woman died in Cagliari, Sardinia, after eating contaminated guacamole from a festival stand, with an 11-year-old boy also remaining in hospital from the same incident. Italian authorities are investigating both botulism outbreaks and have issued warnings for the public to exercise caution with certain foods.
