A Looming Catastrophe: A Comprehensive Review of Post-Amputation Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Limb Salvage in the Gaza Crisis
Post-Amputation Infections
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33687/ricosbiol.03.010.87Keywords:
Gaza, amputation, conflict medicine, humanitarian crisis, antibiotic resistance, trauma surgery, siege, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), malnutrition, infectionAbstract
The military offensive in Gaza has precipitated a public health crisis of a magnitude and severity rarely witnessed in the 21st century. A defining feature is the epidemic of complex traumatic injuries necessitating a massive number of amputations, estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Performed under a total siege that has decimated the healthcare system, these procedures are fraught with an extreme risk of life-threatening post-amputation infections. This systematic review synthesizes data from humanitarian agencies, frontline medical reports, and public health analyses to delineate the multifactorial etiology of this iatrogenic catastrophe. We expand upon the known drivers non-sterile surgery, antibiotic shortages, and the "torso amputation" phenomenon by incorporating detailed discussions on the emerging crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the specific immunological vulnerabilities of a malnourished population, and the psychological trauma compounding physical recovery. The situation represents a violation of the principles of medical neutrality and has created a cohort of survivors with profound, long-term disability. This review concludes that the infection crisis is a man-made outcome of siege warfare and demands an urgent, coordinated international response focused on unimpeded humanitarian access, medical evacuation, and the establishment of advanced wound care and rehabilitation services to mitigate a legacy of suffering.
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References
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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
