Spread of Viral Diseases and Hepatitis Situation in Gaza
The health situation in Gaza is at a critical point due to many factors such as the destruction of the sewage system, damage to waste collection vehicles in attacks, overcrowding in shelters, use of communal toilets, malnutrition and weakened immune systems. These conditions cause viral diseases to spread at an abnormally fast rate in Gaza. The most deadly of these diseases is Hepatitis, which is the most deadly due to medical facilities.
Nasser Hospital, located in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, treats a large number of children diagnosed with Hepatitis. Dr. Ahmed Farrar, head of the hospital’s Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, told AA that Gaza has recorded the highest number of Hepatitis A cases in recent times. Ferrar said that it is estimated that there are thousands of Hepatitis patients in Gaza, and only a fraction of them are able to seek medical attention, while those with limited means of transportation are unable to go to hospitals.
Hepatitis A symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea and dark urine, while some cases can progress to the fulminant hepatitis (liver failure) stage, Ferrar said, “If a child has progressed to the fulminant hepatitis stage, their condition seriously deteriorates and the risk of “death is quite high. Liver failure is a dangerous complication and result of Hepatitis A.”
Ferrar stated that approximately 70% of liver failure cases result in death, and said, “2-3 of our patients enter the fulminant Hepatitis stage every week. Some of them develop hepatic encephalopathy (brain damage caused by liver diseases) or liver failure, and 70% of these cases result in death. In other words, 2 out of 3 cases that enter the fulminant Hepatitis stage lose their lives.”
He also emphasized that there is a vaccine for this disease in the world, and that most neighboring countries have these vaccines, but there is no vaccine in Gaza. While explaining the situation of one of the children receiving treatment in the hospital, he said, “For example, this child behind me was a very hard-working student. He was the top student in school, very successful in his classes, and had Very high intellectual and mental skills. He is currently in a coma. His brain is currently in a pause phase due to toxins in his liver. Because he has liver failure, these toxins affect his nerve cells and cause involuntary. movements.”
Ferrar also touched on the steps that need to be taken to prevent the disease, saying that first of all, the war should end, the border gates should be opened and disinfectants such as soap and shampoo should be allowed to enter Gaza. “The sewage system has completely collapsed. There is no fuel, no electricity, wastewater mixes with groundwater and this causes the contamination of drinking and utility water. Therefore, the first step to prevent viral diseases is to stop the attacks,” he said.
Ferrar also stated that children should be provided with access to foods such as vegetables, fruits, meat and chicken, and that when these conditions are met, the spread of the disease can be prevented.
Zine Tabasi, mother of Ranin, one of the children receiving treatment at the hospital, said, “We are staying in a tent, wastewater is everywhere, there is no clean water or food. We are going in and out of wastewater,” and added that the difficult conditions they are living in caused her daughter to get sick. The Palestinian mother, who stated that her daughter first developed a fever and then her skin turned yellow, said that the doctors told her that her daughter’s liver was inflamed and enlarged.
Palestinian Health Minister Majid Awni Mohammed Abu Ramadan stated in a press conference on August 4 that Gaza is on the verge of a major epidemic, as well as a humanitarian and environmental disaster. Abu Ramadan said, “While there were only 85 cases of Hepatitis in the whole of Gaza in the year before the Israeli attacks, this number has now exceeded 100,000.”
