Since the outbreak of the wave of morbidity in 2023: a third baby died of whooping cough

A five-week-old baby from the Jerusalem area Died a week ago as a result of whooping cough. His mother was not vaccinated during pregnancy, and the baby himself was still too young to be vaccinated. The first dose of the vaccine is given to babies at the age of two months, and it can be given earlier to the age of 6 weeks in cases of outbreak, but before this age the vaccine is not effective. The only way to protect younger babies is to vaccinate the pregnant mother between weeks 27 and 36. The vaccine that the mother receives increases the level of antibodies against pertussis in her blood, these pass through the placenta to the fetus and protect it tolerably until it can vaccinate itself with the active vaccine, which is given as part of the five-dose injection.

This is the third case in which a baby has died since the outbreak of the wave of morbidity in early 2023. As you remember, in June 2023 An unvaccinated baby died After catching whooping cough, and so it happened last january When a two-month-old baby died After being infected at the age of five weeks. His mother was also not vaccinated during pregnancy.

Pertussis kills about a percent of unvaccinated babies who contract it, and now we are in the midst of a wave of morbidity. According to the health intelligence system There were over 500 new patients during May, a figure that is not yet final, and the morbidity is widespread all over Israel. Protect your children; Vaccination during pregnancy and routine vaccinations according to the program save lives.

A danger to anyone who is not vaccinated

Another serious disease against which there is a vaccine – tetanus disease – struck a seven-year-old girl from Netanya last week. The girl, whose parents refused to vaccinate, according to YNET reporter Adir Yanko, She was injured and contracted tetanus, and is currently hospitalized in a serious condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

The tetanus vaccine is given in the same injection that also includes the pertussis vaccine. The injection, known as the “quintet injection”, is given at the ages of 2, 4, 6 and 12 months. The children receive a boost in the 2nd and 8th grades and also in the recruiting office. The tetanus vaccine must be renewed every ten years, and sometimes medical personnel decide to renew it even after five years in certain types of injuries.

Tetanus is not contagious from person to person: most patients are exposed to bacteria that have been in the soil, where they are able to exist for many years in the form of a resistant spore. In the event of an injury, the spores may penetrate the human body, then the bacteria come to life and secrete a toxin that causes severe symptoms, including severe muscle spasms to the point of paralysis and broken bones. Hence also its Hebrew names, “Tspadat” and “Flatzat”. Between 1950 and 1952 About a hundred patients were discovered every year in Israel. About 50 babies were affected by it in 1954. Since the administration of the vaccine began in 1955, the number of patients has decreased, to such an extent that some people are mistaken in thinking that the disease has passed away. But the spread of tetanus spores does not depend on human vaccination, and those who are not vaccinated expose themselves to danger every day. Today medicine does have the tools to treat the disease, but it involves weeks of severe suffering and even with the best treatment, between ten and twenty percent of the patients will still die. Infection with the disease does not immunize against it, so survivors must receive vaccines later in life to avoid recurrent disease. In third world countries, tens of thousands of cases still occur every year, many of them tender babies who are infected with the tetanus spores during birth. The whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy includes the tetanus vaccine, and prevents this danger as well.

In addition to tetanus and pertussis, the five-dose vaccine given to babies as part of routine vaccinations in Israel also includes protection against the deadly diphtheria, polio, which causes muscle paralysis, and HIB, which causes severe meningitis in infants and toddlers.

West Nile fever continues to spread

The Ministry of Health updated last week that the number of known patients with West Nile fever already stands at 81, of which seven people have died so far. 64 patients were hospitalized, six of them are on ventilators. The populations at risk of the disease are the elderly and people suffering from suppression of the immune system. These groups must try and avoid mosquito bites as much as possible, which are the only factor that transmits the disease. As of today, there is no vaccine or cure for the disease, and the treatment given is only supportive care.

And again – Corona

During this period there is an increase in the incidence of the corona virus in Israel. Most of the information now comes from the hospitals, which are the official body that performs corona tests in Israel. The number of daily confirmed cases has been consistently increasing since the beginning of June, as has the number of those hospitalized due to the corona disease. People in risk groups should consider using a mask in closed places, and avoiding crowded places if possible, until the morbidity decreases.