A population that is already at risk for disease is threatened by the flu, cholera, and watery bacterial infections.
Gaza’s supply of potable water is diminishing, further jeopardizing an already dire situation.
Israel responded by cutting off fuel, electricity, and water to the Gaza Strip after a surprise terror attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7 that left more than 1,400 people dead.
The commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Philippe Lazzarini, stated this weekend that Gaza is running out of water and is therefore running out of life. “If we look at the issue of water—we all know that water is life—Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” he added.
More civilians are tragically killed by infectious diseases than by bombs or bullets in various conflicts around the world, such as those in Africa, the Middle East, or South Asia, according to Dr. Adam Levine, director of Brown University’s Alpert Medical School’s Division of Global Emergency Medicine.
Due to the population’s poor access to clean water and sanitation, he noted that infectious diseases are a serious concern in Gaza. The population there has also been relocated and is today crammed close together, which makes them more susceptible to the spread of disease.
The lack of potable water forces Gazans to consume contaminated water or use it for cooking.
That water is probably teeming with bacteria that can cause cholera and dysentery, two virulent digestive illnesses.
Dr. Paul Spiegel, the head of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Humanitarian Health, noted that with cholera, “You can become dehydrated and die in an incredibly short period of time.”
Children are most in danger since they have far less blood volume than adults, according to physicians.
“In general, they’re going to dehydrate faster than adults would,” Levine stated.
The United Nations reports that roughly half of Gaza’s population is under the age of 18, making the region particularly vulnerable to an outbreak of cholera or other diarrheal diseases.
viruses such as the flu
Additionally, there are indications that other diseases, namely respiratory viruses, are starting to proliferate as tens of thousands of Gazans are compelled to relocate to confined spaces in the southern portion of the territory.
Despite the lack of tests, Dr. Ahmad Moghrabi, the chief of plastic surgery at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, claimed to have observed what he considers to be an increase in the flu “even among medical personnel.”
According to Spiegel, COVID is also likely to appear in Gaza. The area is getting more and more crowded as people move from north to south, which is conducive to the spread of infectious diseases.
As long as the conflict is ongoing, widespread immunization against the flu or other viruses like RSV or COVID is not an option. It is not conceivable, Moghrabi declared.
Although there is no proof that the measles virus is spreading, experts are worried about it. One of the most contagious viruses in the world is measles. In a crowded shelter, one patient can spread the disease to everyone, including everyone who is still unvaccinated.
Levine claimed that during the COVID epidemic, measles vaccination rates among children in Gaza fell from as high as 97% in the years preceding 2020.
As a result, measles made a long-overdue return to Gaza in 2020.
Dabney Evans, an associate professor of global health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and the head of Emory’s Centre for Humanitarian Emergencies, stated, “I would not be surprised if measles popped up” again. It’s happened “in other situations where there’s been massive displacement or movement of people.”
If those people and resources are permitted entry into Gaza, measles vaccinations as well as shots to prevent the flu, COVID, and RSV would be a component of the humanitarian aid. According to the World Health Organization, the region’s supplies are waiting in Egypt at the Rafah gate, which remained blocked on Friday.
Evans stated that the health effects of any viral or bacterial sickness would be made worse by Gazans’ lack of access to clean drinking water, food, and sanitary facilities.
Dr. Barbara Zind, a pediatrician from Colorado who arrived in Gaza City on Friday before hostilities started with the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and is still there, calculated that 300 to 400 people must share one bathroom.
“They have no fuel, electricity, food, or clean water,” Zind stated. “This population is being killed.”