2023-06-18 14:51:00
Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod reported today (Sunday) about a four-month-old baby who is hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit, in a critical condition, after contracting whooping cough.
In light of the recent increase in infections among children, today the Ministry of Health called on women who are in the third trimester of pregnancy to come to the health insurance funds and get vaccinated. A similar call was addressed to parents of toddlers aged six weeks and older.
The baby hospitalized in Ashdod Hospital was brought to the medical center last Wednesday, after he was first examined at a health fund in the south and the examination confirmed that he was infected with whooping cough. The baby suffered from breathing difficulties, which were manifested in respiratory distress and coughing until he turned blue, due to a decrease in oxygen in the blood.
The hospital stated that early vaccination of the mother during pregnancy for whooping cough would have prevented the current situation.
Dr. Naa Rosenfeld, director of pediatric intensive care and the attending physician, explained that the pertussis vaccines are important and life-saving vaccines. “The younger the baby, the higher the chances of death and the severe damage to the brain and heart is irreversible. I urge all parents not to take a risk and get all the required vaccinations before and after birth“.
The Ministry of Health explained that in newborns and babies the disease can cause death. One in five babies with whooping cough under the age of two months will be hospitalized and one in 100 babies under the age of two months with whooping cough will die from the complications of the disease.
The Ministry of Health noted that recently there has been an increase in whooping cough cases in Israel. The vaccine given to babies starting at the age of six weeks, provides protection against several diseases, including whooping cough and polio. In view of the risk of morbidity in newborns until they reach the age at which they can be vaccinated, it is important that pregnant women receive a vaccine in the third trimester of pregnancy and in this way protect their children by transferring the antibodies.
As I recall, at the beginning of the month a ten-week-old baby died in Jerusalem, who was not vaccinated and whose mother was also not vaccinated during pregnancy.
According to Ministry of Health data, 215 cases of whooping cough have been diagnosed so far this year, compared to six cases in the corresponding period last year. 183 of them were registered in Jerusalem.
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