‘Brain-eating’ amoeba scare in Israel
Last Updated on July 28, 2024 9:42 am
A dreaded brain-eating amoeba scare is spreading in Israel. In the meantime, hundreds of people have rushed to the country’s hospitals for tests. The Times of Israel reported this information on Friday.
A 10-year-old child was admitted to the hospital at Safed’s Tongue Medical Center on Wednesday with encephalitis, a spokesman for Safed’s Tongue Medical Center said. The condition of the child is serious. Guy Beach in Tiberius went swimming at the water park.
What is this ‘brain eating’ amoeba?
Amoebae known as Naegleria fowleri are unicellular organisms. This animal cannot be seen with the naked eye. It is thermophilic. This animal is seen roaming in hot springs or hot water. This amoeba thrives at a temperature of 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). That is why they are found in hot water lakes or hot springs.
The amoeba, usually found in pond or river water in warm regions, attacks the human nervous system. When bathing in water, it enters the body through the nostrils and ears. Then it goes to the brain. It directly attacks brain cells and tissues. Hence it is also called ‘brain eating amoeba’. If infected, the death rate is about 90 percent. And the patient dies within 1-8 days of infection. This type of infection is so rare that there is no prescribed treatment.
According to experts, symptoms like fever, headache, neck problems, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of consciousness, convulsions, muscle weakness occur in this type of infection. Later it becomes more serious and can be fatal.
It is reported that a 25-year-old man died earlier in Israel due to brain haemorrhagic amoeba. He also went swimming at Guy Beach Water Park in Tiberias.
After this incident, the country’s health minister ordered the closure of the water park. Environmental health workers have already visited and tested the water park. But no brain-eating amoeba was found in the water at the water park.
More than 250 people who visited the Guy’s Beach water park in Tiberias went to the hospital for health checks, the Israeli Health Ministry said. It was later discovered that none of them had contracted the brain-blowing amoeba.