Mysterious virus spreads in Gaza, causing daily infections and deaths

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, warned of the spread of a mysterious and highly virulent virus that is affecting all segments of the population in the Strip without exception, causing daily deaths among young people, pregnant women, and children.

What is this virus in Gaza?

Abu Salmiya said in a press statement that medical teams are unable to determine the nature of the virus due to a severe shortage of laboratory tests and diagnostic equipment, noting that the virus is characterised by unprecedented ferocity, with the infection period lasting two weeks instead of one, accompanied by a sharp rise in temperature, severe joint pain, and acute pneumonia.

He emphasised that deaths were not limited to older people or those with chronic diseases, but included a doctor and an 18-year-old girl who died as a result of complications from the infection, stressing that the deterioration of the general immunity of the population due to Israel’s famine and poor weather conditions in the tents had exacerbated the situation.

He added that the absence of vaccines, which the occupation has prevented from entering since last November, and the deprivation of hospitals of medicines and medical supplies, has made the health system unable to cope with the large influx of patients, which portends a deeper health disaster.

For his part, Dr. Mu’taz Harara, head of the hospital’s reception and emergency department, said that the department has been receiving more than 500 patients a day over the past two weeks, including about 200 cases suffering from acute respiratory diseases.

He also noted a significant increase in cases of leptospirosis, a bacterial infection transmitted by rodents, with around 20 cases of acute flaccid paralysis recorded in the past month alone.