Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday it had registered the Palestinian enclave’s first three deaths from Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) – two children and a 60-year-old woman – warning of a “dangerous escalation” in paralysis cases as war-related malnutrition and unsanitary conditions fuel disease.
Ayman Abu Rahma, head of preventive medicine, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministry registered 64 GBS infections in the past two months alone, compared with four or five cases a year before the conflict.
“Without prompt treatment within the first 48 hours, patients’ health deteriorates quickly,” he said, adding that shortages of intravenous immunoglobulin and other drugs were proving deadly.
Laboratory tests have detected enteroviruses and the poliovirus in recent samples, the ministry said, evidence of what it called a “fertile environment for uncontrollable outbreaks.” It appealed to international agencies to rush life-saving medicines into the strip and to press Israel to lift its blockade.
Surge in acute flaccid paralysis
Doctors have also documented a rise in acute flaccid paralysis – a condition that mimics polio – mostly in children under five. “Roughly 80 percent of all infectious-disease notifications now involve that age group,” Abu Rahma said.
He linked the spike to “atypical infections” spreading through contaminated water and food supplies and to a sharp decline in immunity caused by prolonged hunger. Nurses at Khan Younis’s Nasser Medical Complex say they are treating growing numbers of severely undernourished children alongside paralysis victims.
Humanitarian free-fall
Famine conditions are deepening despite sporadic aid deliveries, many of which are looted by armed gangs, residents and aid workers say. The ministry reported six adult starvation deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll from hunger since the war began to 180, including 93 children.
More than 80 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Monday, 39 of them while waiting for food parcels at distribution points run by the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the ministry added.
What is Guillain-Barré?
GBS is a rare autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks peripheral nerves, starting with tingling and weakness in the legs and sometimes progressing to full paralysis.
About one in five patients require temporary ventilatory support within a week of hospital admission. Complications can include heart-rhythm disturbances, blood-pressure swings, nerve pain, bowel and bladder dysfunction, and life-threatening blood clots or pressure sores.
