Six babies ages seven months to a year old were hospitalized in the past few days at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, all suspected of having caught the childhood disease, measles.
Two of the babies have been quarantined, according to the Hebrew-language Ynet news site; four others have since been released.
Lab tests confirmed the diagnosis so far on at least one of the babies, who suffered with high fever and pneumonia, a complication of the illness.
At the same time, officials at Ichilov sent a request to the Health Ministry to inform all parents whose children attend the same pre-school and nursery, and to warn them to obtain preventive treatment for their youngsters if they have not yet been vaccinated.
It’s not clear how many other children have been found to be infected with the illness so far.
Officials said there are “dozens” of children who will need to be examined to determine whether they are free of the disease, especially since the preschool attended by these children was one local to families of foreign and migrant workers, including many who do not realize the importance of vaccinations. Another problem is the fact that many foreign workers also do not have access to health services, further reducing the number of those obtaining vaccinations for their children.
Measles is considered to be one of the most contagious diseases in childhood.
