Israel's Health Ministry on Wednesday reported the country's first death in the current measles outbreak.
In its statement, the Ministry said that the two-year-old boy who was on an ECMO (heart and lung) machine over the past several weeks died due to complications from measles.
The boy had not been vaccinated against measles, nor had he received any of the routine vaccinations.
Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center stated: "Despite prolonged efforts by the medical team, a two-year-old boy has died from complications of measles while connected to an ECMO machine."
"The toddler, who was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Hadassah several weeks ago, arrived in critical condition after being placed on ECMO and transferred from Shaare Zedek Medical Center to Hadassah.
"The child, who had not been vaccinated, contracted measles and subsequently developed a secondary streptococcal infection that caused severe pneumonia. For weeks, he was treated in intensive care as doctors fought for his life. Sadly, this morning the unit’s doctors were forced to pronounce him dead following multiple systems' collapse."
Hadassah also added that a second patient, an infant girl of approximately one year of age and who contracted measles before she was old enough to receive the vaccine, is "hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in recent weeks, and remains on ECMO in very serious condition."
Thus far, a total of 503 measles cases have been reported, 187 of which are still active cases. However, the disproportionate percentage of hospitalized patients indicates a much wider outbreak than reported: as a rule, developed countries see nine hospitalizations and one death per 1,000 measles cases.
Last week, Haaretz quoted a medical source as saying that many of the parents bringing their children into the ER due to measles tell of "entire buildings" infected with the virus, most of them in the Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh areas.
In an effort to combat the outbreak and allow parents to better protect their children, the Health Ministry has approved the administration of the second dose of the measles vaccine for children between ages 1-6, and has lowered the age for the first dose to six months of age in affected areas.