As humanitarian groups warn that multiple epidemics are likely ongoing in Gaza, one report has revealed that there has been a major uptick of cases of viral hepatitis B, which infects the liver, as sanitary conditions continue to deteriorate and Israel’s genocide rages on.
Haaretz reports that over 100,000 cases of viral hepatitis B have been recorded in Gaza, according to Palestinian Authority health minister Maged Abu-Ramadan. Last year, there were only 85 recorded cases of the infection, meaning that cases have increased by over 1,100 times in the past year.
This potential epidemic, along with the spread of many other diseases across Gaza, is caused by Israel’s unceasing bombings, humanitarian blockade and destruction of crucial sanitary and health infrastructure. Last week, UN agencies reported that the solid waste management system in Gaza has completely collapsed, with a complete lack of access to major landfills causing vast exposure to disease-causing trash and waste.
Hepatitis B is spread through contact with bodily fluids like blood and semen; it is commonly spread from a parent to a child at birth and from injection with contaminated needles. Chronic hepatitis B, or cases that last longer than six months, is the world’s leading cause of liver cancer, and the majority of babies and children who contract it have lifelong infections.
Because hepatitis B is spread through bodily fluids, the reported uptick in cases could be an indication of the extent of the unsanitary conditions in Gaza; humanitarian groups have previously warned of the spread of hepatitis B due to Israel’s blockade on menstrual hygiene supplies like pads. Many have turned to desperate methods, like washing and reusing pads or cutting up old clothes and tents to use as pads.
Officials have been raising alarm about other diseases spreading through the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian groups have been warning for months that the death toll caused by Israel’s disease and starvation campaigns could eventually top the deaths caused by bombings and gunfire.
Last week, the Gaza health ministry declared a polio epidemic in the Strip after samples of poliovirus were detected in wastewater samples across the region. Polio can go undetected in a person’s body, which means that it can be spread easily, while in some people it can cause paralysis. Officials have not yet detected paralytic cases, but disease surveillance is essentially impossible due to Israel’s genocidal assault.
Also last week, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that there has been an eruption of cases of Hepatitis A, an unrelated virus spread through the ingestion of contaminated food or water, in Gaza.
According to UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA has recorded nearly 40,000 cases of the illness in their facilities in the past 10 months, compared to only 85 cases in the same period before. The agency is recording about 800 to 1,000 new cases weekly.
“Piles of trash are accumulating in the scorching summer heat. Sewage discharges on the streets while people queue for hours just to go to the toilets,” said Lazzarini. “All combined make a dangerous recipe for diseases to spread.”
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