Al-Shifa Medical Complex: A new virus is spreading in the Gaza Strip.. and these are its symptoms.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmia, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, sounded the alarm, warning of a rapid spread of an unknown virus among the residents of the Gaza Strip, especially in overcrowded shelters. He pointed out that the exhausted health system is unable to determine the nature of the virus due to the lack of necessary laboratory testing tools.

This warning comes amid catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the sector, where the new virus exacerbates the suffering of the population and increases pressure on hospitals that are operating at full capacity and lack the most basic resources and medical supplies.

Dr. Abu Salmia revealed that the symptoms of the virus include a sharp rise in body temperature, severe joint pain, coughing, and a runny nose, accompanied by bouts of diarrhea lasting more than a week. He explained that these symptoms are widespread among children and the elderly, the most vulnerable and fragile groups.

Initial estimates indicate that thousands of citizens are infected, with extreme difficulty in counting the actual numbers due to the overcrowding of the population in tents and the complex field conditions.

The director of Al-Shifa attributed the rapid spread of the virus to the acute immune deficiency among the population, directly resulting from malnutrition and the lack of healthy food. He also noted that the deteriorating environmental conditions play a significant role in the spread of the infection.

The lack of clean drinking water, the absence of cleaning and sterilization materials, and the overcrowding of large numbers of displaced people in narrow spaces within tents create a fertile environment for the spread of epidemics.

Abu Salmia confirmed that this mysterious virus places an enormous additional burden on the already exhausted health system, which suffers from a severe shortage of medical personnel, medicines, and equipment.

He called on international health organizations and the World Health Organization to intervene urgently to provide the necessary diagnostic tools to understand the nature of this virus and to establish appropriate treatment protocols before the crisis worsens and spirals out of control.