25-year-old man develops meningoencephalitis after swimming in Kinneret

The Ministry of Health reports a rare disease that has appeared in a healthy 25-year-old man. The patient is in intensive care, where doctors are fighting for his life, diagnosed with amoebic meningoencephalitis after being infected with the single-celled parasite Naegleria fowleri.

According to the Health Ministry, there are only about 400 such cases in the world: it is a rare disease with a very high risk of death. The Health Ministry’s epidemiological investigation showed that the young man was apparently infected while swimming in Lake Kinneret, where he was relaxing on Gai Beach.

The Ministry of Health is continuing to investigate the case, and experts have gone to the suspected site of contamination to take water samples.

Naegleria fowleri is a species of single-celled eukaryotic organisms from the Vahlkampfidae family, named after the Australian physician Malcolm Fowler who discovered and described it in 1960. Representatives live in natural and artificial fresh water bodies at a temperature of 25-30°C.

Infection with Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which affects the nervous system and can be fatal without proper treatment. Infection occurs primarily in bodies of water, especially when the parasite is in the flagellate stage of development. The main route of infection is through the nasal passages and olfactory epithelium, from where the parasite enters the olfactory nerve and through it into the brain, where it spreads throughout its parts. Another possible route of infection is through inhalation of aerosols if they contain cysts of the parasite. Infection through the esophagus does not occur when swallowed.