Health security

Serious cases of influenza spark fear of outbreak

The Health Ministry called on everyone over the age of six – especially pregnant women and people of all ages with chronic diseases such as heart problems, diabetes or Down syndrome – to get a flu shot, following the death of a 54-year-old woman from H1N1 (swine) flu at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva on Thursday.

The woman, who was first hospitalized a month ago at Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba, was transferred to Beilinson to undergo special treatment with a device designed to keep the heart and lungs working until they can recover. She had a chronic illness, but had not gone this year to her health fund clinic to receive the vaccine, which contains protection against the strain.