KILLER BUG SOWS PANIC IN ISRAEL
AFP
March 9, 2007

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JERUSALEM - A killer bacteria resistant to antibiotics is sowing panic across Israel as it sweeps through hospitals, leaving scores dead and afflicting hundreds more.

Five hundred people in more than 10 hospitals have been struck down with the lethal Klebsiella bacteria strain in the past six months, with 30 percent of cases ending in death, senior health ministry official Yair Amikam told AFP.

Battling to cope, the health ministry is demanding an extra half a billion dollars to improve hospital infrastructure and for hundreds of new beds, as doctors raise alarm bells of a wildfire epidemic failing decisive action.

"There were 500 cases in the last six months, 30 percent of which end in fatality. All of them are old patients suffering from many kinds of illness and this is not the only reason that caused death," Amikam said.

News of the bug first broke this week and has since dominated the print and electronic media in the Jewish state.

"Bacteria Epidemic Feared", warned one headline. "Resistance Bacteria Rampant - and Health Ministry Has No Data", screamed another.

The health ministry initially kept the outbreak secret to avoid mass panic in a country prized for its world-class health care, but doctors are warning that the problem could become endemic if effective action is not taken.

"We will have an endemic problem rather than a problem that can still be contained," said Dr Itamar Shalit, who chairs Israel's Infectious Diseases Association, when asked about the potential fallout.

Calling for a major budget increase to overcome structural inadequacies in Israeli hospitals, he said around 100 people have died so far with several dozen patients currently carrying Klebsiella.

"There is a lot that needs to be done," he said, demanding a "significant" investment for hospitals to hire adequate specialists and nurses, buy necessary equipment and build additional space to house such patients.

He said it took experts eight to 10 months to realise they faced a new antibiotic-resistant bug, in part because the health ministry failed to act on recommendations to create a centralised alert system as in the West.

"People need to understand this is not the first or the last bug that is resistant, but it is the first that we have no usual antibiotics to treat it with," Shalit told AFP.

"Maybe we are at the beginning of a national outbreak of this bacteria," warned Dr Abraham Borer, director of prevention of infection at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, highlighting an "urgent need" for more investment.

Health ministry officials have been meeting hospital directors and experts to find a strategy to cope with the bacteria primarily affecting the elderly, those in intensive care and those already taking multiple drugs.

The liberal Haaretz newspaper published a stinging editorial, slamming the health ministry for inaction, for failing to alert the public and for failing to set up a steering committee to investigate the phenomenon.

Bereft relatives are already threatening hospitals with law suits, convinced that loved ones died because of hospital negligence. Tel Aviv-based lawyer Tal Nevo said 10 families were already asking him to sue six hospitals.

"We're going to check it very carefully and if we have sufficient evidence we are going to file a law suit. We are probably going to approach the ministry of health to start an investigation," he said.

But health ministry official Amikam defended his government department.

"Bear in mind that we wanted to be sure we knew what we are talking about. There was no intention to hide any kind of information that would cause only a panic," he said.

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