Israeli flight attendant who contracted measles before flying from New York dies after five-month battle with deadly disease
A flight attendant from Israel died this week after a five-month battle with measles, reports said.
43-year-old Rotem Amitai, who worked for El Al Airlines, died Tuesday after contracting the infectious disease at the end of March and subsequently falling into a coma, The Washington Post reported.
Amitai, from Avihayil, Hamerkaz, began to show symptoms of the virus around the time she was flying from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Israel in March. According to the outlet, she was hospitalized to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, after being diagnosed with encephalitis, a swelling of the brain caused by the virus.
The Israeli Ministry of Health released an alert just days after Amitai landed in Israel, saying a measles patient was on board an El Al flight from JFK into Israel on March 26 to 27. However, the department did not specify whether the flight attendant was exposed to the illness while on the aircraft.
Officials could not confirm at the time where or when Amitai may have contracted the disease. However, they noted that she did not appear to have spread measles to anyone else aboard the flight, per an April report by The Post.
While medical professionals could not communicate with Amitai after she fell into a coma, her mother eventually told them her daughter had received the necessary vaccines as a child. But the dose taken in her childhood may not have been strong enough to protect Amitai from contracting the virus, the report said, as patients were given only a single dose of the vaccine back in the 1970s.
It is mandatory for Israelis to give their children one dose of the vaccine with they're 12 months old and another shot when they reach the first grade.
El Al Airlines expressed their condolences to Amitai's family in a statement to the Jewish Press, saying they were handling the matter “in accordance with the health ministry’s guidelines.”
“The company is bowing its head over the death of a member of El Al’s aircrew,” a spokesperson told The Post. “The company will continue to act on the matter in accordance with the health ministry’s guidelines.”
“Once the case became known, the company acted to vaccinate the company’s aircrews,” they added. “The company shares the deep grief of the family and will continue to accompany the family.”
According to WHO, the United States has recorded the highest number of measles cases in the past 25 years.
Most of the outbreaks, per the organization, are occurring “in countries with low measles vaccination coverage,” and in areas with a “lack of access to quality healthcare or vaccination services, conflict and displacement, misinformation about vaccines, or low awareness about the need to vaccinate.”
Furthermore, it is recommended to ensure all your measles vaccinations are up to date, especially before making any travel plans.