Israelis flood hospitals amid scare of brain-eating amoeba at northern water park

More than 100 Israelis show up at hospitals in northern Israel after a 10-year-old boy was hospitalized and a 25-year-old man died after contracting a dangerous brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, while swimming in Gai Beach Water Park in Tiberias, according to Ynet.

The Health Ministry ordered the park closed yesterday after its connection to the cases was discovered. Environmental health inspectors had examined the beach after the first case was reported, but no initial evidence of amoeba contamination was found.

The ministry calls on anyone who has visited the water park during the past two weeks and is experiencing fever, headache, blurred vision or vomiting to contact their healthcare provider for a referral before going to the emergency room.

The mortality rate from encephalitis, an infection of the brain, caused by the amoeba is extremely high, and while infection is extremely rare, it is often fatal.

The boy hospitalized at Ziv Medical Center is the third-ever case of an amoebic infection diagnosed in Israel. The hospital reports that the child’s condition remains critical and he is sedated and ventilated.