A 26-year-old young man from the community of Tiberiasto the north of Israelhas died after contracting the dangerous ‘brain-eating’ amoeba while swimming in the waters of Gai beachlocated on Lake Tiberias, also known as Sea of Galilee.
The victim, whose identity has not been revealed, was admitted to hospital with symptoms of fever, headache and vomiting. However, her condition quickly deteriorated, leading to her transfer to Beilinson Hospital, where she sadly passed away.
The cause of death was attributed to the amoeba ‘Naegleria fowleri’, a single-celled organism that lives in stagnant water and can cause a devastating brain infection known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
This amoeba enters the body through the nose and then travels along the olfactory nerves to the brain, causing severe inflammation and destruction of brain tissue.
The Israeli Ministry of Health took immediate action after the young man’s cause of death was confirmed. Specialists were sent to Gai Beach to collect water samples and assess the presence of the pathogen.
Surprisingly, no traces of contamination were found in the samples tested, raising questions about the exact origin of the infection. Notably, this is the second recorded death in Israel from this amoeba, with the first case reported in 2022 when a 36-year-old man succumbed to primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
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