Millions of shekels will be needed to battle a bacterium that has swept through Israeli hospitals over the past month, according to Health Minister Yaakov Ben-Yizri. The bacterium, klebsiella pneumoniae, has infected more than 500 people and killed approximately one-third of those who became ill.


Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Ben-Yizri said that intensive care units are packed with hospital patients who have been infected, and that more beds are urgently needed.


The bacterium, which appears to be confined to hospitals, strikes patients with weak immune systems, the elderly and those who are very ill. Because the Israeli strain has been found to be be resistant to antibiotics, current medical efforts are focused on a quarantine of affected patients and increasingly strict sanitation measures in the nation's hospitals. However, Health Ministry directives for combating the spread of the bacteria were issued only on Sunday, nearly three weeks after the dramatic increase in reported instances of infection became known to ministry officials.


Last week, after warning against a national panic, Minister Ben-Yizri met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to request 2.5 million shekels (US$600,000) of emergency funding to control the infection, and to invest in three new hospitals by 2015. At the time, Ben-Yizri told the Prime Minister that hospitals are in immediate need of an additional 3,000 beds

Outside Israel, only US hospitals have reported an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacterium.

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The Health Ministry, responding to the klebsiella crisis, has established a coordinating committee to collect and share information and laboratory services among the nation's hospitals. Professor Yehuda Carmeli, of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, heads the team, which has also been tasked with diagnosing and seeing to isolation of patients infected with the bacterium.


The resistant strain of the Klebsiella bacterium, which is not new to Israeli hospitals, appeared in recent months and seems to have infected mostly those who were hospitalized for over 25 days. Normally found in the mouth, skin and intestines, Klebsiella pneumoniae is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae family. The germ often causes hospital-acquired urinary tract and burn wound infections, but is also known to cause bacterial pneumonia. Its identification is complicated and can involve a large number of tests.
Outside Israel, only US hospitals have reported an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacterium. In Europe, the Klebsiella bacterium is still responding to conventional treatments.


Although Health Ministry Director-General Professor Avi Yisraeli told reporters only very ill patients in hospitals are at risk, many have reacted to the news reports of the infections by avoiding hospitals altogether. Over the past few days, emergency rooms in Israeli hospitals have been nearly empty, leading doctors and Health Ministry spokespersons to warn of the dangers of avoiding treatment when necessary.