Ayalah Revach A”H, 20-months-old, from Rechasim, was laid to rest on Monday night as a result of the stern intervention of Zaka officials, who opposed a request from the Health Ministry district physician who insisted on an autopsy. Zaka acted on instruction from rabbonim who permitted health officials to take fluid and other body samples but not to permit any invasive procedure.

Health officials are concerned over the fact that three children died suddenly over the past three weeks and two have come down with a sudden illness that seems to have attacked their central nervous system. The physician who insisted on the autopsy is looking for a connection between the unexplained deaths but based on the information from samples of bodily fluids and other non-invasive tests, there does not seem to be any connection between the cases at present.

Dr. Moti Scheinfeld, who heads the intensive care unit of Schneider Children’s Hospital, explained on Tuesday morning that it does appear to be a number of unrelated cases as strange as this may sound at present. Nothing shows any connection between the fatalities based on the information available to date. He explained there are a number of children who die of infection every year and it is possible that the incidents came in close proximity to one another without any connection between the cases.

Doctors are seeking to learn if there is any connection to the virus Coxsackie B, which was found in the stool of another victim, Ella Haninah, 14 months, who died three weeks ago. When she arrived in the hospital she was brain dead. Her parents decided to permit the transplant of her organs to save others.

At present, doctors at Schneider Children’s Hospital are working to save two other children, an 18-month-old girl from Ramat Gan and a 33 month-old boy from Bnei Brak. Both are exhibiting signs of neurological compromise and one was resuscitated from cardiac arrest.

A 14-month-old boy who died was found to have contracted a myocardial infection which explained the case.

Understandably, the illnesses and sudden deaths among small children have compelled Health Ministry involvement, and as a result, they were alerted to the death of a 15-month-old girl who died in Dana Children’s Hospital in Tel Aviv. Ministry officials report that 10 children between the ages of 1 and 10 die annually as a result of infectious diseases.

Regarding the Coxsackie B infection, in the thousands of children stricken with it, most only exhibit illness that might include diarrhea, and in the overwhelming number of cases, it is not fatal or even serious.

Health Ministry officials on Monday night issued a statement in an effort to calm parents, explaining there does not appear to be any connection between the deaths. That said, officials are at a loss to explain the deaths at present and it appears there is an increasing air of anxiety among parents of small children. Officials are stating however that in cases of diarrhea with vomiting and high fever, parents are instructed to come to an emergency room.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)