An El Al flight attendant is in a “serious condition” after contracting measles on a flight from New York to Tel Aviv.
The female employee in her 40s – who has reportedly been vaccinated against the disease – is unconscious in hospital and breathing through a respirator, according to the Times of Israel.
The New York Strictly Orthodox community has been at the centre of a recent public health scare amid falling vaccination rates.
Rockland County in New York declared a state of emergency last month, following an outbreak of measles, which primarily affected the district’s Charedi community, which has close ties to Brooklyn’s Orthodox communities.
Under the executive order, 6,000 pupils were pulled out of schools under a ban on unvaccinated children and teenagers from public spaces.
The Israeli Ministry of Health warned passengers on the flight – which left JFK Airport on March 26 and landed in Israel a day later – to seek immediate medical attention if they develop measles symptoms.
Israel has also seen an outbreak of the disease, recording 3,600 cases in the last 12 months, according to the Israeli government.
In December the JC reported that more than 500 children from the Charedi community of Stamford Hill, North London, received emergency vaccinations following an outbreak of 60 cases.
Believed to have come from Israel over the chagim, it was one of the most serious measles outbreaks in the UK Jewish community for decades – exacerbated by vaccination rates which were “definitely lower” than those in the general population, according to local GP Dr Joseph Spitzer.
