Israel Medical Association Journal

War is a chaotic situation for most of the public sectors in the countries involved. These sectors also include the medical systems, especially medical education, of which medical communication is often neglected or forgotten due to objective and subjective causes on either side of the involved countries. By planning lessons on various aspects of medicine for countries at war and close mentoring and utilization of modern communications technologies, these difficulties can be minimized without jeopardizing the quality of medical studies nor medical communication. In this perspective article, we describe the objective and subjective measures taken by our team to achieve these goals during the Iron Swords war in our region.

The ancient, Biblical, holy Ten Commandments were presented to humanity to serve as guidelines for relationships between individuals and the deity they worship as well as a benchmark for living in civilized communities, irrespective of religious affiliation. The commandments are also embedded in medical education taught to medical students and other health professions throughout the world. Thus, the Ten Commandments are embedded in the medical communications curriculum at Adelson School of Medicine, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel. Unfortunately, most of these commandments were desecrated during the violent, hostile, merciless, and ruthless attack inflicted by the Hamas terror organization on villages, rural communities, and cities in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. We define the Ten Commandments in terms of medical education and describe their desecration by Hamas terrorists before and during the Iron Swords war.

Background: During 2013–2014 Israel experienced a continuous circulation of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) but with no clinical cases. WPV1 circulation was gradually terminated following a national vaccination campaign of bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV) for 943,587 children < 10 years. Four cases of children with neurological manifestations that appeared following bOPV vaccinations were reported during the campaign: three of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and one of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). 

Objectives: To present an analysis of these cases, the rapid response and the transparent publication of the results of this analysis. 

Methods: The clinical, laboratory and epidemiological data of these four patients were available during the analysis. In addition, data regarding the incidence of GBS and ADEM during previous years, and reported cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and the incidence of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis were collected from the Epidemiology Department of the Israel Ministry of Health.

Results: The incidence of GBS among bOPV-vaccinated children was not higher than among bOPV-unvaccinated children. For all the cases reviewed the "incubation period" from vaccination to the event was longer than expected and other more plausible causes for the neurologic manifestations were found. There is no evidence in the literature of a causal relationship between bOPV and ADEM. 

Conclusions: There was no association between the bOPV vaccine and the reported neurological manifestations. We believe that our experience may assist other public health professionals when confronting a similar problem of alleged side effects during a mass medical intervention.

 

Background: Streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis remains a common illness in children and can lead to serious complications if left untreated.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic and management approach of a sample of primary care physicians in the largest sick fund in Israel to streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis in children.

Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to all physicians who treat children and are employed by the General Health Services (Kupat Holim Klalit) in the Jerusalem District. The questionnaire included data on demographics, practice type and size, and availability of throat culture and rapid strep test; as well as a description of three hypothetical cases followed by questions relating to their diagnosis and treatment.

Results: Of the 188 eligible physicians, 118 (62.5%) responded, including 65 of 89 pediatricians (73%) and 53 of 99 family and general practitioners (53.5%). Fifty-six physicians (47.4%) had more than 18 years experience, and 82 (70%) completed specialization in Israel.  Mean practice size was 950 patients. Fifty-three physicians (43%) worked in Kupat Holim community clinics, 25 (21%) worked independently in private clinics, and 40 (34%) did both. A total of 91 (77%) had access to laboratory facilities for daily throat culture. The time it took for the results to arrive was 48 to 72 hours.  For the three clinical scenarios, 90% of the physicians accurately evaluated case A, a 1-year-old with viral pharyngotonsillitis, and 100 (85%) correctly diagnosed case C, a 7-year-old with streptococcal infection.  As expected, opinions were divided on case B, a 3-year-old child with uncertain diagnosis.  Accordingly, 75 (65.3%) physicians did not recommend treatment for case A, compared to 109 (92.5%) for case C.  For case B, 22 (19%) said they would always treat, 43 (36%) would sometimes treat, and 35 (30%) would await the result of the throat culture.  For 104 (88%) physicians the antibiotic of choice for case C was penicillin, while only 9 (7.5%) chose amoxicillin. However, the recommended dosage regimens varied from 250 to 500 mg per dose, and from two to four doses daily.  For case C, 110 physicians (93%) chose a 10 day duration of treatment.

Conclusions: The primary care physicians in the sample (pediatricians, general practitioners and family physicians) accurately diagnosed viral and streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis. However, there was a lack of uniformity regarding its management in general, and the dosage regimen for penicillin in particular.