The Health Ministry reports that an epidemiological investigation into the circumstances surrounding the infection of a 10-year-old boy with parasitic amoebic meningoencephalitis has revealed that both the boy and a 25-year-old man who died of the disease three weeks ago were at the Hof Gai water park on the Kinneret. As a precaution, the Health Ministry has ordered the immediate closure of the water park.
Water samples from the water park have been sent to a laboratory for testing. The Ministry of Health asks anyone who has visited the aforementioned water park and has experienced one or more of the following symptoms – high fever, headache, blurred vision or vomiting – to go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital in their place of residence for testing.
The Ministry of Health emphasizes: Before going to the hospital emergency room (“cheder miyun”), you must call your health insurance fund and ask for a referral. The Ministry of Health has instructed all health insurance funds to issue a referral for examination in the emergency room to those who have vacationed in the water park on Hof Gai in the last two weeks and are experiencing the symptoms described above.
The Health Ministry also sent out instructions to hospitals across the country. Earlier today, it was reported that a 10-year-old boy hospitalized with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis had been infected with the so-called “brain-eating amoeba” Naegleria fowleri. The boy was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Ziv Hospital in serious condition, on a respirator and put into medically induced sleep.
Naegleria fowleri is found in stagnant water bodies, puddles and ponds. The Ministry of Health is conducting an epidemiological investigation of the places the child visited, taking water samples from various water bodies. If the source of infection is found, a message will be published.
The first such case this year ended in the death of the patient.
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 if left untreated. 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 all its sections. Another possible route of infection is through inhalation of aerosols if they contain parasite cysts. Infection through the esophagus does not occur when swallowed.