An unvaccinated one-and-a-half-year-old toddler from Jerusalem passed away from complications of measles at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital overnight Monday, the 11th toddler to succumb to the disease since the outbreak began in May.
With the exception of one, all fatalities were unvaccinated healthy toddlers with no underlying illnesses before contracting measles.
“A one-and-a-half-year-old baby died last night in the pediatric intensive care unit,” a statement from Hadassah said. “He was hospitalized about 10 days ago in serious condition, with an airway obstruction due to a severe infection after contracting measles.”
“The intensive care unit team treated the baby and did everything possible for him, but his complex medical condition deteriorated until they had to pronounce him dead last night.”
On Sunday, a one-and-a-half-year-old toddler passed away from measles complications after arriving at the Poriyah Medical Center in Tiveria in critical condition due to breathing difficulties.
“Measles is a particularly dangerous and highly contagious disease, with severe immediate and long‑term complications and even death,” said Dr. Saed Abbuzaid, director of the Pediatric Department at Poriya. “The disease can be prevented by the routine vaccine given at age one, but due to the current outbreak, it is recommended to vaccinate even earlier, according to Health Ministry guidelines.”
Tiveria is currently designated as a measles outbreak area along with Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Harish, Modi’in Illit, Nof HaGalil, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod, Tzfas, Netivot, Haifa, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, and the yishuv of Tekoa.
In outbreak locations, parents can go to Tipot Chalav, health funds, and measles vaccination stations that have been set up to reinforce vaccination efforts without making an appointment in advance.
The Health Ministry recommends that those who are not vaccinated, as well as parents of babies who received one vaccination at the age of 6-11 months, avoid participating in large events in outbreak areas due to the risk of infection.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
The recent rise in measles deaths is becoming increasingly concerning—it echoes the early COVID period, when fear and rigid hospital protocols sometimes led to worse outcomes. Measles begins as a viral infection, but in some very few patients it can progress to severe complications such as viral pneumonia or ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), which are the real dangers.
In the recent Texas outbreak, supportive care focused on early intervention—addressing inflammation and maintaining lung function before patients deteriorated. RFK junior and clinicians used nebulized budesonide, a steroid that reduces airway inflammation, and nebulized glutathione, an antioxidant that can help thin mucus and support the lungs’ natural defenses. These treatments aim to keep oxygen levels stable and reduce progression to critical illness.
NO ONE Died. Except for one child and hear what those parents have to say, it wasn’t a result of measles it was a result of neglect intervention.
It’s worth remembering that if doctors simply stopped treating strep throat or bacterial pneumonia, the death toll from these otherwise manageable infections would soar. Early, appropriate treatment saves lives.
Reports suggest that in some places, parents are hesitant to bring children to hospitals, fearing that only limited or delayed interventions are offered once cases become severe. Anyone with connections to Israel should be encouraging timely, appropriate medical treatment at the first signs of complications—because, as with any serious infection, early care makes all the difference.
If you want to talk medical, let’s talk medical — but let’s talk facts, not recycled talking points
Measles provokes a hyper-inflammatory immune reaction with oxidative stress, epithelial barrier breakdown, and a surge of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ). Management during the Texas outbreak incorporated multiple modalities aimed at dampening this cascade and preventing secondary complications:
Nebulized budesonide: delivered directly to the bronchioles, suppressed NF-κB–driven cytokine transcription, reduced airway edema, and improved pulmonary compliance in patients with reactive bronchospasm.
Glutathione support: restored depleted intracellular antioxidant reserves, neutralized viral-induced reactive oxygen species, and protected alveolar epithelium from oxidative apoptosis. Alot of research on nebulizing (100 pure, there is a company thats available in the local health food stores) glutathione USP grade, for acute respiratory issues.
Vitamin A supplementation: corrected infection-induced retinol depletion; retinoic acid enhanced epithelial regeneration, supported mucosal IgA responses, and reduced keratopathy and mortality risk.
Vitamin D optimization: modulated adaptive immunity by tempering Th1/Th17 cytokine storms and upregulating antimicrobial peptides such as cathelicidin and β-defensin.
Hydration and electrolyte correction: countered insensible fever losses, preserved cerebral perfusion, and reduced risk of encephalopathy and metabolic derangements.
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG): selectively deployed in high-risk patients (immunocompromised, infants, or exposed pregnant women), providing passive antibodies that reduced viral replication and lowered the probability of severe complications.
Empiric antimicrobials: initiated where secondary bacterial pneumonia or otitis media was clinically suspected, with coverage typically aimed at Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus.
Supportive respiratory care: from supplemental oxygen to escalation toward mechanical ventilation in cases of severe pneumonitis or impending ARDS.
This layered therapeutic framework directly addressed the immunopathophysiology of measles — oxidative injury, epithelial compromise, and cytokine dysregulation — and in practice resulted in favorable clinical outcomes in the overwhelming majority of pediatric patients during the Texas outbreak.
It is quite clear that when a child progresses to respiratory failure, the issue lies in a failure of timely treatment — a reflection of medical neglect — not in the parents’ decision-making. Blaming families for “lack of vaccination” while ignoring evidence-based supportive measures is not science, it’s scapegoating. If you haven’t read a shred of the research on actual clinical interventions, then repeating slogans is not medicine. It’s time this madness ends.
Joshua45: Your impressively lengthy AI generated comment somehow dances around the fact that none of this happened until people decided not to vaccinate their kids anymore. It also bizarrely suggests that Israeli doctors, including pediatric intensivists, don’t know how to treat measles. This isn’t some new unknown virus like COVID, it’s a well known entity. I would trust their clinical judgement over yours and your AI.
Baisls: sorry, not everything you don’t know is ai….
Just educate yourself the history of measles. It’s never went away, it never will go away, cant go away, it emerges every 3 to 4 years, read the “PubMed” research about the regression in respiratory illness ever developed since the vaccine is out…
Time to educate yourself. PS AIwon’t help you cuz they’re masking the truth… AI would never generate the response that even sounds a bit like ant… vaccine
Joshua45: You claim “no one died” except one child and blame “medical neglect.” The official verified records show otherwise.
Fact: People are dying. In 2025 alone, there have been 3 confirmed measles deaths in the U.S. (including two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico).
Fact: It’s not just “one child.” Over 1,700 cases have been confirmed this year. Among children under 5 years old, 21% required hospitalization. That is not “safe.”
Fact: Prevention works, “rescue” is a gamble. You suggest treating inflammation after lungs fail with unproven nebulized glutathione.
Measles Risk: 1 in 1,000 children with measles will develop encephalitis (brain swelling), and 1–3 in 1,000 will die, even with the best hospital care.
Vaccine Risk: The risk of serious allergic reaction is less than 1 in 1,000,000. The risk of pneumonia from the vaccine is zero.
Blaming doctors for not using experimental drugs while ignoring the tool (vaccines) that prevents the disease entirely is not “science”—it’s dangerous misinformation. The only “early intervention” that guarantees a child won’t die from measles pneumonia is immunity.
YWN should not allow antivax crazies to spread death. How many yiddeshe kinder have to die??
This problem is unique to the Hareidi community; why do you think that is happening?
Joshua45: The cadence, tone, and punctuation of your comment are all unmistakeably AI generated, hence your response to me sounding completely different from your original comment. And yes, it’s fairly trivial to make AI argue for any unacceptable position. Also, I’m quite certain there are at least 20 words in your AI written comment that you’re unfamiliar with.
Problem is nobody read any signs today you decided that the vaccine is a prevention, and you decide that glutathione is unproven. Have you bothered reading the research? Did you even bother to search PubMed what about nebulizing good glutathione and acute respiratory failure?
The answer is you didn’t. It’s pretty obvious if you would have you would have not said what you said, if they would have been a prevention without side effects or at least beneficial enough that outweighs the side effects of measles of course everybody would have taken it. But there is no such a thing there is a myth that vaccines are safe and effective and everybody keeps on repeating it, and finally went and I’ll break happens which it will forever come every 3 years no matter who vaccinates or doesn’t cuz this is the measles cycle since ever creation…
Do want to have a scientific conversation I’m all for it, you’ll be blown away by the facts that are out there and you’re not even bothering to read it…
Are you commenting on the Texas outbreak, did you talk to the doctors on the ground? Which kid had to be hospitalized in which not? Do you know if any of the kids that were given simple basic budesonide had anything more than the snipples cough?
Talk to the doctors on the ground, talk to the parents who live in texas, here where they have to say how they were not treated. And how when RFK Jr came down and changed the protocol what happened.
It’s very sad, we create a line vaccines are safe and effective and if you didn’t take the vaccine there’s no treatment. You want to take the vaccine good luck you think you’re protected good luck the vaccine should work for you you have nothing to worry about. Doctors are not trained how to treat measles so once in 50 years that there is a strange behaving strain of measles of course people are dying…. the measles was around in 2019 there was a party everywhere all the kids got measles nobody was hospitalized . This currently measlesome monsey nobody’s in the hospital, you want to know why cuz these kids get treatment…. in the health department is trying to chase the outbreak good luck…
this is exactly like c19… Good luck get 10 covid boosters
You are missing the entire idea of prevention. Your earlier reply (ai or not) discussed basically the entire gamut of medical care, from specialized medications, to ventilation and antibiotics etc. While it’s true there may be some treatments for the effects of many illnesses (including measels) there is a simple and safe way to prevent it. Even if you will say the vaccine isnt completely safe, its not like intubating someone isn’t without risks as well.
Your idea of timeley treatment is very true, but it’s like not wearing a seat belt bc most car accidents arent severe and even if it is, the trauma team at the hospital is always available…