Unvaccinated baby in critical condition from rare disease epiglottitis

An unvaccinated one-year-old baby was hospitalized in critical condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem last week, suffering from epiglottitis, a rare disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B, the hospital says.

Massive swelling blocked the baby’s windpipe, and doctors were forced to use a tiny, thin tube, usually intended to help premature babies breathe immediately after birth, and thus managed to save the toddler from suffocation.

The baby, who is unvaccinated against Haemophilus influenzae type B, is now hospitalized in the pediatrics department.

Dr. Efrat Blankenstein, a resident physician in the pediatrics department who took part in the emergency treatment, states that the infant “was just minutes away from death.”

Epiglottitis “was primarily an emergency we learned about theoretically,” she says. “Had the child been vaccinated, this entire incident would have been prevented.”