El Al flight attendant dies of measles

An Israeli flight attendant died after contracting measles and falling into a coma, Israeli media reported Tuesday, the latest incident amid growing measles outbreaks in countries around the world. There were more reported cases of the virus in the first half of 2019 than in any other year since 2006, the World Health Organization announced Monday. “The United States has reported its highest measles case count in 25 years,” the WHO said in the announcement. The woman, a mother of three, was just the third measles fatality in Israel in the past 15 years, according to the Times of Israel: In 2018, an 18-month-old child and an 82-year-old woman also died of the virus. El Al, said “the company is bowing its head over the death of a member of El Al’s aircrew. The company will continue to act on the matter in accordance with the health ministry’s guidelines. Once the case became known, the company acted to vaccinate the company’s aircrews. The company shares the deep grief of the family and will continue to accompany the family.” The Post previously reported that the 43-year-old flight attendant had been flying on an El Al flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Israel in late March and was later admitted to the hospital after developing encephalitis, a complication of the illness in which the brain swells.<br/>