Six children from a kindergarten in Harav Le’at, in the Emek Hefer Regional Council, were treated in recent days at Meir and Hillel Yaffe hospitals after developing high fever, rash and pain, apparently after being bitten by ticks at the kindergarten. Three of the six have already received test results confirming Mediterranean spotted fever, while results are still pending for the other three. The children were given targeted antibiotic treatment in hospital.
Parents described a frightening illness and said the children were not diagnosed quickly. One mother, Adi, said her six-year-old son Nevo first complained of headaches, then developed a high fever and later a rash on his body, palms and feet. She said he was hospitalized in the emergency room with suspected tick bite exposure and that “these were three very hard days,” adding, “he was in pain and was like a rag, it was scary to see your child like that.” Another mother, Tamar, said doctors initially suspected pests or hand, foot and mouth disease, and that even after she reported other confirmed cases from the same kindergarten, she was not immediately sent to the hospital.
The parents accused the regional council and the Health Ministry of negligence, saying the area around the kindergarten was not cleaned properly and the response was delayed. Adi said the council should have sieved or replaced the sand, while Tamar said it took five days before spraying was done and that tall weeds remained near the kindergarten, where snakes and ticks could still be present.
The council rejected the accusations, saying it acted immediately, moved the children to alternative buildings and carried out spraying, pest control and thorough weed cutting. It said all lab tests in the kindergartens were normal and no ticks were found, arguing there was no infection source inside the schools, only environmental exposure in the surrounding open areas. Meir Hospital said that during the past week four children arrived with symptoms consistent with spotted fever, two were admitted for treatment and observation, one case was confirmed, and three more results were still pending. Infectious-disease specialists stressed that the disease is not spread person to person, and a report was sent to the Health Ministry because of the unusual cluster.
