Israel Health

Israeli soldiers began receiving polio vaccinations Friday as part of a nationwide attack on the disease by health officials after 10 people contracted the virus in recent weeks.

Israel transferred 220,000 vaccinations against foot-and-mouth disease to the Palestinians on Sunday as the two sides accused each other of cynically manipulating the issue for political purposes. Announcing the dispatch of the vaccines, spokesman Peter Lerner of the Israeli Civil Administration said: "We see it as a mutual interest. The diseases don't know the difference between borders . . . and this is the main reason why Israel is participating in this step."

An Israeli court, responding to a request from a frightened father, ordered a 12-year-old boy not to visit an uncle stricken with AIDS, a newspaper reported Thursday. A Tel Aviv court issued the injunction after the father pleaded that his son's continued visits were "suicide," the Jerusalem Post reported without giving names. "This is our only son, and I feared for his life," the father, an Orthodox Jew, was quoted as saying. "Therefore I had to ask the court to help me save him."

Peace talks with the Palestinians are in danger of collapse, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government appears to be in its death throes, and tensions are rising between secular and observant Jews here. But to many Israelis, none of these crises seems nearly so threatening as the danger posed by . . . mosquitoes.

Peace talks with the Palestinians are in danger of collapse, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government appears to be in its death throes, and tensions are rising between secular and observant Jews here. But to many Israelis, none of these crises seems nearly so threatening as the danger posed by . . . mosquitoes.

Health officials in Israel ordered the immunization of all citizens up to age 40 to stem an outbreak of polio, which had been thought to be under control in the country. Eight Israelis are known to have been stricken with polio in the past two months. The last case was reported Oct. 1, when an 8-year-old boy fell ill in the coastal town of Hadera, where the virus has been found in the sewage system.

Israel transferred 220,000 vaccinations against foot-and-mouth disease to the Palestinians on Sunday as the two sides accused each other of cynically manipulating the issue for political purposes. Announcing the dispatch of the vaccines, spokesman Peter Lerner of the Israeli Civil Administration said: "We see it as a mutual interest. The diseases don't know the difference between borders . . . and this is the main reason why Israel is participating in this step."

Israeli health authorities declared West Nile virus infection an epidemic, saying the mosquito-borne illness has killed 13 people in the nation this summer and infected thousands more. The virus has been in Israel for decades but had not been seen in the Western Hemisphere until last year, when it killed seven people in New York City. Israel is the first country to have declared such an epidemic since the virus spread to the United States.

It's the smell of the Kishon River that first hits you, long before the murky, oily waters are visible. Yuval Tamir spent years diving dutifully into those waters, inhaling the smell, absorbing the toxins that he believes contributed to the two cancers that he suffers today. Tamir belonged to an elite sea combat unit, the Jewish state's equivalent of Navy SEALs.

After six years of debate and a power struggle that reshaped Israeli politics, Parliament on Wednesday enacted a national health law that guarantees medical care for all citizens as a basic right. The law brings into the country's four medical care funds those Israelis, about 6% of the population, who have been without health insurance, often because of serious diseases, and it expands the services the funds provide. But the major change is to finance health care through a 4.

Israeli health authorities declared West Nile virus infection an epidemic, saying the mosquito-borne illness has killed 13 people in the nation this summer and infected thousands more. The virus has been in Israel for decades but had not been seen in the Western Hemisphere until last year, when it killed seven people in New York City. Israel is the first country to have declared such an epidemic since the virus spread to the United States.

It's the smell of the Kishon River that first hits you, long before the murky, oily waters are visible. Yuval Tamir spent years diving dutifully into those waters, inhaling the smell, absorbing the toxins that he believes contributed to the two cancers that he suffers today. Tamir belonged to an elite sea combat unit, the Jewish state's equivalent of Navy SEALs.

After six years of debate and a power struggle that reshaped Israeli politics, Parliament on Wednesday enacted a national health law that guarantees medical care for all citizens as a basic right. The law brings into the country's four medical care funds those Israelis, about 6% of the population, who have been without health insurance, often because of serious diseases, and it expands the services the funds provide. But the major change is to finance health care through a 4.

Health officials in Israel ordered the immunization of all citizens up to age 40 to stem an outbreak of polio, which had been thought to be under control in the country. Eight Israelis are known to have been stricken with polio in the past two months. The last case was reported Oct. 1, when an 8-year-old boy fell ill in the coastal town of Hadera, where the virus has been found in the sewage system.

Israeli soldiers began receiving polio vaccinations Friday as part of a nationwide attack on the disease by health officials after 10 people contracted the virus in recent weeks.

An Israeli court, responding to a request from a frightened father, ordered a 12-year-old boy not to visit an uncle stricken with AIDS, a newspaper reported Thursday. A Tel Aviv court issued the injunction after the father pleaded that his son's continued visits were "suicide," the Jerusalem Post reported without giving names. "This is our only son, and I feared for his life," the father, an Orthodox Jew, was quoted as saying. "Therefore I had to ask the court to help me save him."

James R. Spitz, Columbia Pictures' president of domestic distribution, will receive the Jerusalem Award, Shaare Zedek Medical Center's highest honor, Saturday at a dinner in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. Robert Wagner will be master of ceremonies, with Sammy Davis Jr. as special guest artist. Keynote speaker will be Prof. Chaim Doron, director of Kupat Holim, Israel's major health care network.

Some folks have asked, "Why hasn't someone already set up an axis of Hollywood canteens as in World War II, where the biggest stars entertain the lowliest military subalterns?" One L.A. publicist from Wolf-Kasteler told me that the general consensus among stars and publicity people is for everyone to stay out of the limelight.