The deaths of two children struck by meningitis in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya have raised fears of an epidemic. But health authorities are reassuring the public it is unlikely.
They say if no new cases are reported by Monday, any possible danger will have passed.
Rinat Midan, 4, and Meir Ailuz, 6, died Thursday at the Nahariya hospital within the same 24-hour period after contracting meningococcemia.
Both youngsters had bathed in the municipal swimming pool, but had no close contact before taking ill.
Doctors stressed that the bacteria that cause meningitis are not water-borne and are communicable only by close contact.
The meningococcus bacterium is latent in about 8 percent of Israel’s adult population, and about a dozen cases are reported each year in various parts of the country.
U.S. Embassy personnel are routinely vaccinated every year, but epidemiologists say the strain used is against a form of meningitis not found in Israel.
Also vaccinated are Moslems leaving Israel on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Meningitis is endemic in Saudi Arabia, parts of Syria and Sudan.
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