“Dangerous viruses that cause severe paralytic illness are thriving in Gaza, where starving children living under an Israeli blockade can’t access the food or treatments they need to recover.
For months, health officials have warned that the destruction of the Gaza Strip’s sanitation facilities by Israel could fuel the surge of infectious diseases, as seen in last year’s polio outbreak. Now, doctors are reporting a surge in cases of acute flaccid paralysis, a rare syndrome causing muscle weakness that can make it hard to breathe and swallow.
Cases in Gaza include acute flaccid myelitis, which mostly affects children, and the better-known Guillain-Barré syndrome, said Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza.”