Health officials in Israel have warned that Israeli soldiers injured in the aggression on Gaza are suffering from drug-resistant germs.
The Infectious Diseases Society (IID) in Israel said that several drug-resistant pathogens have been found, especially in extremity infections, including highly resistant bacterial strains of Klebsiella, Escherichia coli, and Aspergillus fungi.
“There are reports in all hospitals that soldiers have returned from the battlefield with resistant infections,” said the association’s president, Professor Galia Rahav.
She added, “A large portion of the infections diagnosed among wounded soldiers are also discovered from time to time in Israel, but they are found in people who were exposed to this bacteria, and not before that.”
Contact with soil and clay
“Contacting the soil and clay there causes exposure to these resistant bacteria, as well as mold,” she said.
The appearance of these infections also affects the treatment of soldiers, as sometimes surgical intervention, such as endoscopy, is required to remove the infected tissue, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and become unresponsive to medications, making infections difficult to treat and increasing the risk of disease spreading, severe illness, and death.
Since early November, the World Health Organization has warned of the increasing risk of disease outbreaks in Gaza, with the disintegration of health care services and water and sanitation systems.
Intensive attack on hospitals in Gaza
Hospitals in Gaza are under intense attack, with only 11 hospitals out of 36 in Gaza remaining partially operational. At least 300 health care workers have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, more than the total number of health care workers killed in all conflict countries in any year since 2016, according to Medical Aid for the Palestinians.
“Given the living conditions and lack of health care, more people could die from diseases than from bombings,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote last month in a post on the X website.
Earlier this month, there were reports of an outbreak of dysentery among Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, with an increase in cases of diarrhea and intestinal illness requiring evacuations for medical treatment.
The outbreak is believed to be caused by the pathogen Shigella, while inadequate sanitation and poor storage of food, which the Israelis have donated to their army since the beginning of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, have been suggested as a source of infection, according to The Telegraph.
Conflict areas
This is not the first time resistant bacteria have formed in conflict zones, as crumbling healthcare infrastructure and unrestricted use of antibiotics are pushing resistant bacteria far beyond the immediate battlefield.
A previous example of this is the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, which was transported to US hospitals by wounded soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This bacteria, known as one of the six most deadly drug-resistant pathogens, infects wounds and spreads through the bloodstream, can cause blood poisoning (sepsis) and loss of limbs, and can be fatal.
