Man, 47, Dies of Influenza Complications at Soroka Medical Center

A 47-year-old man died at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on Wednesday, November 11, after severe complications of influenza. He had no known underlying illnesses and had not received an influenza vaccination. Cold-like symptoms after a recent trip abroad had developed into serious breathing difficulties and extensive lung damage. The patient received intensive care and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, to support his lungs. His treatment with ECMO had already been reported on November 5. Professor Lior Nesher, head of Soroka’s infectious diseases institute, said: “The case illustrates the risk of influenza complications, even among healthy people.” Dr. Uri Galante, who heads the hospital’s internal intensive care unit, explained in the November 5 account that the patient’s lung injury had worsened despite intensive treatment. A 61-year-old woman was also critically ill with influenza at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba and receiving ECMO support. She had not been vaccinated and had no known underlying conditions, according to the report on her condition. National surveillance figures for the week ending November 7 recorded 196 new influenza cases at 14 participating general hospitals, up from 153 the previous week. Seven patients with influenza were admitted to intensive care that week, six adults and one child. Since seasonal monitoring began, 826 hospitalized patients had laboratory-confirmed influenza: 634 adults, 182 children and 10 pregnant women. The surveillance figures included 28 deaths among hospitalized patients with confirmed influenza. Influenza A predominated among the viruses identified.