‘It’s a horrible picture’: Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease by Jason Burke

Fatal infections more likely due to malnutrition, injuries and lack of medical facilities under Israel’s blockade… Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory, research has revealed.

… The findings published on Tuesday, in a peer-reviewed research comment in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, are the first since the conflict began in October 2023 to suggest a prevalence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza.

“This will mean longer and more serious illnesses and a high risk of transmission to others. It means an increased risk of death from really common infections. It means more amputations. It’s a horrible picture,” said Krystel Moussally, epidemiology adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières and a co-author of studies on drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza and other conflict zones in the Middle East, who was not involved in the research.