After the death of two children from measles in less than a week, Prof. Eyal Leshem, director of the travel medicine and tropical diseases center at Sheba Medical Center, told The Times of Israel that he was calling upon “every community leader who knows the children in their community are unprotected and are at risk of contracting a deadly disease that is vaccine preventable to act now.”

Since the measles outbreak began in Israel about three months ago, 526 cases have been diagnosed, of which 209 are active cases.

Most of the recently diagnosed patients are from the Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh area, which have large ultra-Orthodox communities, with most of the hospitalized patients being unvaccinated children.

As of Sunday, 19 children are still hospitalized, all under the age of 6.

Two of the children are in intensive care, and one is connected to a life-support system.

“We know in public health that the most effective interventions are done in close collaboration with community leaders,” Leshem said. “We hope that the Health Ministry is able to effectively collaborate with the community leaders of the affected communities to save children who are not vaccinated and at risk of death to protect their children.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever, malaise, runny nose, and a rash.

The rash generally appears........

© The Times of Israel