An 8-year-old boy from Ramat Beit Shemesh died last weekend after contracting the deadly meningococcal bacteria.
The boy's parents called the MDA on Friday night after they noticed that the boy was in a serious condition. He entered the ambulance while conscious, but a few blocks from Shaarei Zedek Hospital he suffered a system collapse and needed CPR. The doctors at the hospital had to pronounce him dead.
This is a generally healthy child and his parents said that on Friday morning he still attended school as usual, even though he had a fever.
"When we arrived, the child was fully conscious, but in not so good condition and we began the evacuation," said Itai Orion, MDA paramedic. "In the minutes before arriving at the hospital, the child had a complete system collapse all at once, with loss of breathing and later also loss of pulse.
Shaare Zedek, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"We started CPR and put him in the children's department at the hospital," added the paramedic.
"We were concerned that this was a very serious infection. Unfortunately, there was no way to prevent this deterioration and the end is very difficult. I have been a paramedic for 9 years and this is the worst deterioration I have seen in a patient. This is a very rapid deterioration and a very rare and severe course of the disease."
Meningococcus is a bacterium found in the throat of children and adults with high frequency in its non-violent form.
However, in rare cases it becomes violent and may enter the bloodstream and cause infection or the membranes of the brain and cause inflammation.
The fatality rate of virulent meningococcal is between 5 and 15 percent.
Data from the Department of Epidemiology shows that during 2022 until the beginning of December there were about 16 cases of virulent meningococcal infections (meningitis or invasive infection).
Second death in the last six months
In July, a two-year-old baby was infected with virulent meningococcal, but was in good condition.
In June, a baby died from the Beit Shemesh area who was infected with meningococcal and suffered from a blood and marrow infection.
The meningococcal bacterium leads to various complications even among toddlers who recover, and children who survive the disease may be left with brain damage, deafness, visual impairment, developmental and cognitive impairment, paralysis, epileptic seizures as well as psychological disorders.
In some cases, loss of fingers and limbs can occur, where the rash appears due to necrosis formed in those places of the body.
In the less severe cases, the complications can appear in the form of arthritis, lungs and ears.
So it is possible for the bacterium to cause irreversible damage to a healthy child, and according to estimates every year there are several dozens of cases in Israel.
This year, a vaccine called "Baxro" was added to the medicine basket, which protects against one of the strains of meningococcal - strain B. Today, the vaccine is given privately.
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