The Israeli Ministry of Health has announced that a two-year-old boy, who had been hospitalized for several weeks and connected to an ECMO machine after contracting measles, has passed away today at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
The child, Binyamin Zurger z”l, was the great-grandson of Rabbi Moshe Ze’ev Zurger, a prominent dayan of the Satmar Hasidic community in Jerusalem and author of the “Vayashev Moshe” series. He was also the grandson of Rabbi Tzvi Aryeh Zurger, a rabbi in the Satmar community, and son of Rabbi Mordechai Yoel Zurger, son-in-law of Rabbi Yehoshua Asher Kahana, a rabbinical judge in the Badatz and rabbi of the Mishkenot HaRo’im community. The child was named Binyamin after the late Rebbe of Mishkenot HaRo’im.
This is the second tragedy for the family, as about a year ago they lost another child due to a fatal bacterial infection.
Just a week ago, the family added the name Alter to the child, a traditional act as a merit for healing, and the mezuzahs in their home were found to be invalid and replaced. Tragically, the toddler passed away early this morning.
A small funeral took place in the afternoon, from the Shamgar funeral home to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where he was laid to rest.
Since the beginning of the measles outbreak in Israel three months ago, 503 cases have been confirmed, with 187 currently active. The majority of recent cases have come from the Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh areas, and most of the hospitalized patients are unvaccinated children.
As of now, 12 children are hospitalized, all under the age of six. Three are in intensive care, one of whom is on ECMO. All hospitalized children are unvaccinated, with two cases still under investigation. 81% of all patients are children, most of whom were not vaccinated.
The Ministry of Health urges parents to ensure their children receive routine vaccinations, especially against measles. Vaccination status can be checked via the digital vaccination record on the Israeli government personal portal.
Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital issued the following statement:
“The child, who was transferred to Hadassah’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit several weeks ago in critical condition from Shaare Zedek while connected to an ECMO machine, was not vaccinated and had contracted measles. This led to a secondary streptococcal infection, causing severe pneumonia. He was treated for several weeks in the PICU, with doctors fighting for his life. Unfortunately, this morning his condition deteriorated, and the medical team had to declare his death due to multi-organ failure.”
Another child, a one-year-old girl, remains in critical condition in the same intensive care unit, still connected to an ECMO machine and being closely monitored.
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