Suspected Hemorrhagic Fever case reported in Iraq’s Nineveh
Shafaq News – Health officials in Nineveh [located in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq] reported a suspected case of hemorrhagic fever in a young man, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 12 since the beginning of the year 2024.
A source from the Nineveh Health Department told Shafaq News Agency on Sunday that a 20-year-old man from the Al-Ayadiyah sub-district, west of Mosul, is currently receiving treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Mosul.
The source stated that Nineveh Health officials are awaiting laboratory confirmation from the Public Health Department in Baghdad to verify the infection. “the young man had slaughtered an animal believed to be infected a few days prior.”
As of now, Nineveh has recorded 12 confirmed cases this year, excluding the suspected case. Among these, there have been two fatalities, according to the health department source …
Investigators search Gaza for cases of polio after the virus turns up in wastewater
GOATS AND SODA – When Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov was in Gaza late last week, he saw a scene that’s become familiar since the war started: Sewage overflowing in the streets. Young children jumping and splashing in it.
He cringes knowing diseases might be festering in the water. And then he got word of another concern to add to his list: Polio. The virus has turned up in the enclave’s wastewater.
For more than 25 years, the Gaza Strip has been polio free. Then last week polio was detected in six out of seven routine sewage samples.
“It’s a very dangerous disease. And, in the situation of Gaza, it’s beyond dangerous,” says Saparbekov, the World Health Organization’s health emergency team lead for Gaza and the West Bank.
The news sparked an international investigation. This week teams of investigators arrived in Gaza and fanned out in search of active cases of polio.
They’re collecting stool samples, interviewing parents and combing through medical records in search of paralysis cases, one of the most serious symptoms of the disease.
They haven’t found any cases yet but infectious disease experts say it’s likely circulating silently in the population with asymptomatic and mild cases …
