A former senior IDF officer passed away from malaria overnight Thursday in the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

Col. Res. Moshe Zarka, 60,  a resident of the northern city of Nahariya, had traveled to Chad, Africa, for business, something he’s done in the past dozens of times. After returning in Israel, he fell ill with a high fever and confusion and went to the emergency room early last week, where the doctors diagnosed him with malaria after ruling out COVID-19.

He was hospitalized but his condition quickly deteriorated and he was placed in the ICU, where his condition deteriorated further until he passed away about two days later.

Dr. Nikola Mahol, head of the ICU at the Galilee Medical Center, said that the malaria had aggressively attacked the victim’s body, causing multi-system damage. The patient received special treatment for malaria but it was apparently too late to save him.

Zara, the former head of the IDF’s POW and Missing Persons Department,  served as the intelligence officer of the liaison unit for Lebanon, and assisted in the search for missing soldiers Zechariah Baumel and Ron Arad, among other things.

Prof. Eli Schwartz of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, and president of the Israeli Society of Parasitology and Tropical Diseases, said that with proper precautions no one should be dying from malaria.

“We see malaria in Israel only in those who traveled abroad. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, we would see malaria about once a month but since the pandemic began we’re seeing it less due to the limitations on travel.”

“I’m not aware of the details of this particular case, but the characteristic malaria patient in Israel is an older businessman who didn’t take the preventive treatment for the disease,” Prof. Schwartz continued.

“It’s common to diagnose malaria in people returning from places like Africa, where the disease is centered. Anyone who travels to Africa and doesn’t take the preventive medication for malaria is simply endangering themelves. The pills used in recent years have almost no side effects.”

“We haven’t had a death from malaria in Israel in years. Between 50 to 100 malaria cases are diagnosed in Israel each year and the vast majority are found in those who have returned from Africa and the vast majority failed to take preventive treatment.  The longer the delay until the start of treatment, the higher the risk, and the risk is also higher in those over 50.”

“Contrary to the coronavirus, for which there is no treatment as of yet, a treatment exists for malaria. When the pandemic began, we warned the medical community to be extremely cautious in diagnosing patients so as not to err and chas v’chalilah diagnose a malaria patient as a COVID patient, thus delaying the life-saving malaria treatment.”

“The last time someone died of malaria in Israel was three years ago when a foreign worker died of it. Prior to that, about ten years ago, in a case that also involved a resident of Nahriya and was widely publicized, 29-year-old Yelena Kisilyov, who had worked as a nurse in the Galilee Medical Center, passed away of malaria after contracting it in Equatorial Guinea, where she had worked as a nurse.”

“Malaria isn’t found in South Africa and the Sahara but there is some prevalence of malaria in all the countries in between. In Ethiopia, there are large parts of the country that are outside the malaria areas due to the height of the mountains, and in West Africa the disease is more common than in the East.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)