Israeli flight attendant dies from measles Published duration 13 August 2019

image copyright AFP image caption The stewardess caught the disease in April

An Israeli air flight attendant who fell ill with measles on an El Al flight from New York to Israel has died, Israeli media say.

The 43-year-old woman became unwell on the flight in April. It is unclear where she contracted the disease.

It is the third death from measles in Israel since November, after none there for 15 years, reports say.

The stewardess, who has not been named, suffered brain damage due to complications from the virus and had been in an induced coma, according to media reports.

The latest fatality comes after an 18-month-old toddler and an 82-year-old woman died from the disease in Jerusalem at the end of last year.

In recent decades, successful vaccination programmes have ensured measles has become rare in many places.