Hospital ICUs Overwhelmed
Influenza Strikes Early: How Two Viruses Are Creating a Health Emergency in Israeli Hospitals
Israeli hospitals are reporting critical overcrowding in pediatric ICUs, with multiple babies on life support due to an aggressive early flu season coinciding with the ongoing, dangerous measles outbreak.
Intensive Care Units Overloaded
Medical centers across Israel are sounding the alarm over a drastic surge in winter illnesses that has led to significant overcrowding and crisis conditions in pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). The surge is being driven by an unusually early and harsh influenza season coinciding with the ongoing measles outbreak.
Hospitals are treating children of all ages, with the most severe cases involving infants and toddlers.
At Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, doctors are treating a number of infants connected to ECMO machines, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, a form of life support. The hospital noted that the presence of four infants on ECMO in the pediatric ICU is a number not witnessed since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among these critical cases at Rambam:
Critical Cases in Jerusalem and Haifa
The situation is equally dire at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where pediatric departments at both the Ein Kerem and HaTzofim campuses are managing a high number of flu-related hospitalizations.
While most children are in stable condition, two toddlers are fighting for their lives:
Additionally, a five-year-old girl was admitted in serious condition due to measles complications and was immediately placed on a ventilator due to obstructed airways; she is currently in severe but stable condition.
Medical teams at Hadassah stressed the urgency of prevention, issuing a direct appeal to the public: "Hadassah teams emphasize to the public that vaccinating children, babies, and those with weakened immune systems in accordance with the Health Ministry’s guidelines is critical in preventing severe morbidity."
The severe illness seen in these young, vulnerable patients, who require the highest level of respiratory and life support, highlights the dangerous synergy of the two circulating viruses. As the flu season continues to intensify and the measles outbreak persists, hospitals face mounting pressure to manage the influx of critical pediatric cases.