An Israeli newspaper announced on Sunday that dozens of Israeli soldiers stationed on the Gaza Strip border were suspected of being infected with the skin disease “leishmaniasis.”
Maariv newspaper reported that dozens of soldiers were diagnosed with skin lesions suspected of being caused by the Leishmania parasite, which causes the Rose of Jericho disease, after being bitten by sand flies.
In the same context, Hezi Levy, director of the Israeli Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon on the Gaza Strip, said that more than 3,500 wounded have been treated in the hospital since October 7.
Levy pointed out that neither he nor the most experienced doctors had ever witnessed such a large number of cases transferred for treatment in one day.
Rose of Jericho disease
According to the newspaper, the “Rose of Jericho” disease is related to an extremely painful inflammatory skin lesion. This condition can last for several weeks if treatment is not received, and this lesion usually causes scars to form on the skin.
She indicated that some soldiers were sent to undergo laboratory tests, the results of which have not yet appeared, while some of them were suspended from service and directed to dermatology clinics.
Professor Eli Schwartz, an expert in travel medicine and internal medicine, from the Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv, and president of the Israeli Society of Tropical Diseases, reported that during Operation Protective Edge, which took place during the summer of 2014, many wounds were treated for soldiers who had died. They were infected with leishmaniasis, and he pointed out that this phenomenon returned with the beginning of the current fighting.
Schwartz pointed out that infections with the parasite did not occur in the Gaza Strip; Rather, in the Gaza envelope area. He continued, “The area has been infested with rodents that carry the parasite for years, as well as with sandflies that are particularly present there. The soldiers were exposed to the infection mainly at the beginning of the fighting, as the weather conditions were summer last October, and there was significant sandfly activity.”
In terms of how the disease is transmitted, Schwartz said, “The Leishmania parasite is transmitted to humans through the bite of a small fly, and each bite leaves an inflamed and painful lesion. In some cases, treatment requires cessation of operational activity, due to the complex circulation that takes place only in hospitals.”
Treating the disease
The newspaper reported on the authority of an Israeli army spokesman that, “In all army units, various measures are being taken to avoid the spread of leishmaniasis infections among soldiers, as awareness documents are distributed to soldiers in field units on this subject, in addition to providing anti-mosquito preparations.”
The spokesman, whose name the newspaper did not reveal, explained that all patients who show suspicious symptoms are examined by army dermatologists. They receive appropriate treatment, with the possibility of being referred, as needed, to clinics dedicated to treating leishmaniasis.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which, as of Saturday, resulted in the death of 21,672 Palestinians and the injury of 56,165 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure and created an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international reports.