Meningitis–please pray

The man who sits directly behind my husband in shul went into the ICU with bacterial meningitis and as of last night is breathing with help of a respirator. One of the gabbaim asked us to be in touch with the local branch of the health ministry regarding prophylactic antibiotics, so my oldest son stopped there on his way to school, where he was eventually told that whoever was sitting either one row in front or back and up to two seats over needed to take four doses of antibiotics over two days. This meant that three of my sons and my husband all needed the drugs. My two youngest had also been in shul, but because they came in and out and didn’t sit there for any length of time they don’t need them. You can bet that I will be keeping a close eye on them over the next two weeks. They gave the medicine to my son, who met my husband at the gan and gave it to him. No one needed to be examined.

(Update: It just occurred to me that the authorities are less concerned about the younger children because they presumably underwent routine vaccination for meningitis, although no one asked us to confirm this.)

A 15-year-old boy from our neighborhood, a not-close friend of my son’s, died from the disease about six weeks ago. It happened literally overnight.

I am so worried about this man, the father of six. I wish I could stop thinking about the possible outcomes of his illness. Please pray for Ephraim Asher ben Tova Miriam.