An one-year-old infant died Wednesday morning of measles, bringing the number of deaths during the current outbreak to 14.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, the infant was brought to a Jerusalem hospital in critical condition, after losing consciousness at home a few days after contracting measles.
Channel 12 News reported that the infant did not wake up on Wednesday morning and was brought to the hospital by his parents. At the hospital, doctors found that he was infected with measles, and were forced to declare his death.
United Hatzalah medics Yechiel Stern and Ariel Dray, who arrived at the scene, said: “He did not wake up from his sleep after contracting measles a few days ago. We performed resuscitation efforts, and he was then evacuated to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in critical condition while CPR was ongoing."
Hadassah Medical Center responded: "At Hadassah Mount Scopus, a one-year-old measles patient was declared dead after being evacuated lifeless to the emergency room. Despite the efforts on the ground to resuscitate him, which were continued also by the staff at the hospital, the staff was unfortunately forced to declare his death."
The Health Ministry confirmed: "A one-year-old infant who was not vaccinated died today of measles."
"Of the 13 others cases of death, most of those who died were healthy infants with no pre-existing conditions, who were not vaccinated. The Ministry reiterates that measles is a preventable disease with a safe and effective vaccine. The vaccine saves lives."
The Ministry also emphasized the importance of seeking medical treatment when symptoms appear or when there is a suspicion of exposure to measles. "Coming on time saves lives," the statement said.
The Ministry's "most" refers to one case of an older child who died of measles. That child did have pre-existing conditions, but the infants who died did not. One of the infants was infected at the start of the outbreak when she was 11 months old, and died months later. She was vaccinated according to schedule, but was still too young for the measles vaccine when she was infected by someone else.
Since then, the Ministry has allowed infants ages 6-11 months to receive an early MMR vaccine. The early dose has lower success rates and it does not provide years-long immunity; thus infants who receive it will receive another dose at 12 months and a second dose later on. Infants who live in areas with measles outbreaks may receive the second dose of the MMR at the age of 1.5 years.
The Ministry recommends that unvaccinated people and parents of infants who received a single early measles vaccine at age 6-11 months avoid large gatherings in outbreak areas, due to the risk of infection.