A wave of stomach viruses has been sweeping through central Israel in recent weeks, hitting infants, toddlers and school-age children. The illness, which causes vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, has spread quickly through kindergartens and schools, in some cases emptying out entire classrooms.
Hadar, the mother of a kindergartner in central Tel Aviv who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, told Mako Health that her daughter had been suffering from diarrhea for a full week. When she spoke with the kindergarten teacher, she learned that nearly every child in the class had similar symptoms. The municipal pediatrician told her the same thing.
"I call it 'the Tel Aviv plague,'" said Dr. Maor Bacher, director of Clalit's Child Health Center in Ramat Aviv Gimel, where dozens of children with these symptoms are arriving each week. He said that while the vomiting usually passes within a day or two, the diarrhea can last much longer. "I tell parents it can go on for as long as two weeks, and they look at me in shock," he said. "That doesn't mean the child has diarrhea nonstop, but their stools can stay loose."
Older children have not been spared. "Yesterday a boy came in and told me that out of more than 20 kids in his class, only six showed up to school," Bacher said.
Clinics elsewhere in central Israel and the Sharon region are reporting the same trend. "We're seeing a peak in diarrhea cases right now, from infants to older children," said Dr. Danit Blumenthal, senior pediatrician at Clalit's HaYeruka Child Health Center in Kfar Saba. She said the virus often spreads through entire kindergartens, to siblings at home and even to parents.
Clinics in southern Israel are also reporting more visits for vomiting and diarrhea. Dr. Michal Maimon, a pediatric specialist and medical director of Maccabi Health Services' southern district, warned of complications. "After prolonged diarrhea and vomiting, some children show signs of dehydration," she said. "In more complicated cases, we treat them with IV fluids."
