A 10-year-old boy was diagnosed with a stroke in the central city of Bnei Brak on Tuesday.
The child was taken to a local medical emergency center suffering from nausea and general weakness, later learning he was one of a handful of children who suffer a stroke at his age.
Dr. Mathew Friedman, who heads the Terem medical emergency center in Bnei Brak, said that aside from feelings of nausea and general weakness, the child suffered from pronounced muscle weakness to his left side, walked with a limp, had difficulty raising his left hand and kept losing balance when walking.
The child was urgently transferred to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
"Although this is a rare case, a child can have a stroke for various reasons," Dr. Friedman said. "An artery blockage is very rare at this age."
He noted that sometimes strokes result from the outbreak of an autoimmune illness that has not yet been diagnosed.
Friedman said that a thorough investigation into the incident is being conducted, and that according to the boy's father, he was feeling well.
According to Health Ministry data, there were 18,373 strokes recorded in Israel in 2020, 870 fewer cases than the year before.
In addition, the data show that the average age at the time of the cerebrovascular event was 71.7, with approximately 19% of the patients (3,426) under the age of 60, and approximately 31% (5,655) over the age of 80.
The study shows that 56.4% of cases were recorded among men and at significantly younger ages compared to their female peers.
The most common underlying diseases among stroke patients were high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and ischemic heart disease.
Strokes among Israel's sizable Arab minority were higher than their Jewish compatriots nationwide and were even over double in some parts of the country.