Israel Active

Israel’s “R” factor – the average number of people that one person infects with the SARS-Cov-2 virus – has fallen to just over 0.5 and less than 1% of tests are returning positive. Israel has no “red” (high infection rate) cities for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Israel’s Revitalvision has developed vision training software to improve eyesight in adult amblyopia, eye diseases and vision impairments. The FDA-approved therapy uses Gabor patches with a patented stimulation technique to stimulate the visual cortex and create new neural connections.

When United Hatzalah volunteer medic Alan Malka saved a 30-year-old man who suffered a heart attack in Petah Tikva, he recognized that he saved the same man two months previously. Resuscitation was much quicker this time, and he now should get treatment to prevent a further incident.

Doctors from Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre are flying out to Dubai to treat an initial 350 diabetes patients in the UAE army, police, and firefighting services. Sheba is also sending physicians to train medical staff at Medcare Women & Children Hospital in Dubai.

Some 1.8 million people are bitten by snakes each year – about 94,000 fatally. An international research team including Tel Aviv University’s Eyal Goldstein have designed a model to determine (and so avoid) the probability of a snakebite at specific places, months, and times of day.

The IPUD (Implantable Peritoneal Ultrafiltration Device) from Israel’s Paragate Medical (reported previously) removes excess fluid from patients coping with chronic heart and kidney failure at home. Paragate is a portfolio company of Nazareth’s NGT3. Human trials start soon.

Israel’s Oramed (reported previously) has launched Oravax – a joint venture with India’s Premas Biotech to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine is administered orally (not injected) and targets 3 virus proteins, so should counter any mutations. Human trials expected soon.

Israel’s X-trodes has developed a wireless sensor skin patch combined with data analysis algorithms that a patient wears on their body. It remotely measures and analyzes the health of the brain, eyes, muscles, or heart during sleep or everyday tasks. The technology was developed at Tel Aviv University.

Excluding the Negev desert, Israel’s population density is by far the in the OECD – a key factor for high Covid-19 mortality rates. But Israeli fatalities were than most of the 37 OECD countries. Only South Korea had both less deaths per million and a higher total population density.

Israel’s Defense Force was the first army in the world to vaccinate over 80% of its personnel. The whole operation was conducted with military precision in just 10 weeks without wasting a single vial. Currently, no IDF member has died from Covid-19 and only one had a serious infection.