A 10-week-old baby, who suffered from whooping cough and was not vaccinated, died three weeks ago in Jerusalem, the Health Ministry reported Monday. This is against the backdrop of the outbreak of the disease, which claims an average of two babies a year in the city.
The baby developed symptoms of the disease at the age of five weeks and was hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital two weeks later. An epidemiological investigation revealed that neither the baby nor his mother were vaccinated against the disease. All of the baby's contacts were examined, and preventive treatment was performed.
The chairman of the Association of Pediatrics, Prof. Tzachi Grossman, wrote to Health Minister Moshe Arbel and demanded that he activate a vaccination system in the city immediately: "We call on the Ministry to act quickly and focus its efforts on ultra-Orthodox populations and communities, which are characterized by overcrowding and the risk of infection among many children from the same family. pertussis can cause suffocation, respiratory insufficiency, and even death. It is the duty of all of us to mobilize and prevent the death of a child from whooping cough."
'The Ministry of Health should focus its efforts on densely populated communities with a high risk of infection' (Photo: AFP)
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pertussis is an infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by the bacterium pertosis and is considered highly contagious and even violent. The disease attacks immunocompromised adults, especially children, and is characterized by fever, runny nose and persistent cough that does not pass. Whooping cough is especially dangerous in children under one year of age, and about 1-2% of babies infected at this age die.
The pertussis vaccine given to pregnant women is supposed to provide antibodies to both the mother and the fetus against the infectious disease. The Ministry of Health recommends getting vaccinated between weeks 27-36 of pregnancy, but the vaccination rate currently stands at about 17,20 women out of about <>,<> pregnancies a year.
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- Hadassah Ein Kerem
