A two-year-old in Jerusalem was recently mildly ill with a fever and after two days, she also developed a rash. A day later, the rash began to spread. The mother wasn’t overly concerned but out of an abundance of caution, she emailed a photo of the rash to the family’s pediatrician. The pediatrician took one look at the photo and recognized it as a serious life-threatening infection. He immediately called the mother and told her to order an ambulance and at the same time, sent the photo to Dr. Giora Weiser, the director of the pediatric emergency department at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, asking him to prepare his staff for the arrival of the toddler. By the time the toddler arrived at the hospital in the ambulance, she could no longer breathe on her own and was entering a state of shock. The staff stood waiting at the entrance to the emergency room and treated her with adrenaline, antibiotics and fluid via IV. Baruch Hashem, the toddler’s condition gradually stabilized and her life was saved due to the pediatrician’s quick actions. “The first 24 hours were critical,” said Dr. Amir Zilka, a senior physician in Shaarei Tzedek’s pediatric intensive care unit. “After 24 hours in intensive care, her condition began to stabilize. Thanks to the email sent by the mother, the staff began providing immediate care. These are the kind of situations in medicine where treatment must be carried out prior to diagnosis. If she would have arrived any later it would have been too late. We handle a few such cases a year and this is one of the worst cases we’ve seen.” Is every rash dangerous? Dr. Jack Brown, director of Shaarei Tzedek’s pediatric intensive care unit, said that the common rashes that appear often in toddlers and children [that disappear when touched] are not dangerous but this rash was a rare one that indicated a widespread life-threatening infection. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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