Boy in critical condition with rare ‘brain-eating amoeba’ after Sea of Galilee swim

A 9-year-old child was hospitalized in serious condition with inflammation of the brain in the intensive care unit at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, the Health Ministry said Sunday, after being infected with a very rare “brain-eating” amoeba, apparently while swimming in the Sea of Galilee.

Tests sent to the ministry’s laboratory overnight confirmed that the boy contracted an encephalitis infection from Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that can be fatal.

He was identified in Hebrew media as Baruch Neriya from Pardes Hannah. His family asked that people pray for the recovery of their son. The ministry said he is sedated and intubated at the hospital.

An initial epidemiological investigation revealed that the child swam at Kursi Beach on the Sea of Galilee about a week before he was hospitalized.

Dr. Danny Eytan, director of the paediatric critical care unit at Rambam, told media the boy had arrived the day before.

During tests, “a suspicion arose that it was an amoeba infection,” he said

Eitan said that though the boy is in “very serious condition,” “we hope for the best.”

“We are exposed to this amoeba, and in most cases we don’t even know it,” Rotem Lapidot, director of the infectious diseases department at Rambam, told the Ynet news outlet. “In very rare cases it manages to enter the brain and cause a serious infection.”

Lapidot said symptoms begin with a high temperature, headaches, vomiting, nausea, and neurological symptoms, usually affecting consciousness.

She noted that a fever, headaches, and changes in consciousness are always reasons to seek medical attention.

The amoeba causes an extremely rare but highly fatal infection of the central nervous system. Fewer than 500 cases have been reported worldwide, including two in the US over the past year. Israel has seen three recorded cases in recent years.

Of the three cases recently in Israel, two ended in death, Ynet reported. In 2022, a 36-year-old man died from the infection, and then in 2024, another man, aged 26, died. Three weeks later, a 10-year-old boy was infected during a family visit to the Sea of Galilee. According to Ynet, after months in hospital, he was moved home but remains in serious condition.

Earlier this month a teenager died in North Carolina, and an 8-year-old girl died in Louisiana last month, both from the infection.

A North Carolina teenager has died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri that's found in warm freshwater, state health officials said. https://t.co/eaeaPWzY0Y

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Naegleria fowleri thrives in warm freshwater sources. Infection occurs exclusively when contaminated water enters through the nose, allowing the organism to travel to the brain. It cannot be contracted by drinking water, nor does it spread from person to person.

To reduce risk when swimming in warm freshwater, health officials advised keeping water from entering the nose — especially when diving, jumping, or putting one’s head underwater — by holding the nose shut or using nose clips. Swimmers should also avoid stirring up sediment in shallow waters, where concentrations of the amoeba can be higher.