The polio virus in Jerusalem: The Ministry of Health fears that children from the kindergarten of the 4-year-old girl from the Mea Shearim neighborhood who fell ill with polio were also infected. Here’s News’ reported tonight that in the days when there was only suspicion of her illness until the positive answer was received, the girl continued to go to kindergarten.
Only this morning, after a week, she was asked to go into solitary confinement after receiving a positive answer.
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According to a report in Here News, the Ministry of Health has begun an epidemiological investigation and asked the kindergarten administration for information on how many children are vaccinated and some have not, but the kindergarten administration has asked the rabbis for permission to give the information to the Ministry of Health.
The girl who was diagnosed is at home monitoring the symptoms, is not hospitalized and suffers from half-body weakness.
A pediatrician who works in the neighborhood where the sick girl lives, told Here News: “This is not a surprise, there are more and more children who are not getting vaccinated now. This is the new confession – young mothers do not give the vaccines. There was always apprehension and they gave it not very happily, because everything that came from the establishment was considered prey, and the situation was too good in recent years and it was only a matter of time. I know a lot of kids who have not been vaccinated. I will not be surprised if there are more cases, it is expected. “
The Ministry of Health estimates that there are many more patients in Jerusalem in areas where only a few are vaccinated, so a medical survey is being started in the city to determine the extent of the disease. If it turns out that the morbidity is high, the Ministry of Health will consider launching a polio vaccine for children in Jerusalem.
The head of the public health services, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price, said today at a press briefing that the virus is only in the Jerusalem area at the moment.
“Our emphasis at the moment is to make sure that all the children, especially from the Jerusalem district, are in their best immune state, which means that the vaccines are supplemented according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health – these are four vaccines given in the first year of life. The current recommendation is to get vaccinations a little earlier – first at six weeks, second at 12 weeks – to make sure the children are protected as soon as possible.
“Currently there are ten contacts within the family, and another 20 contacts in the kindergarten. Depending on the test results it will be decided how far we need to expand. There are places where the level of immunity in Jerusalem is low – and there families must already be encouraged to bring their children to the vaccines. “
The Ministry of Health estimates that the first polio case in Israel since 1989, which was discovered yesterday in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, is only the “tip of the iceberg” and fears hundreds of other cases.