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Northern Israel: 10-year-old boy in critical condition with brain-eating amoeba infection

Just weeks after an Israeli man died from an infection with a rare brain-eating amoeba, a boy in northern Israel is in critical condition with the third suspected case of Naegleria fowleri.

By World Israel News Staff

A ten-year-old boy in northern Israel is in critical condition Wednesday, amid suspicions he has been infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba which claimed its second victim in Israel recently.

The child is being treated for severe brain inflammation at Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat (Safed) in northern Israel. He is currently sedated and on a ventilator.

Doctors say it appears that the boy’s encephalitis was caused by Naegleria fowleri, a rare amoeba which thrives in warm bodies of freshwater and can enter the brain via the nasal cavity.

The boy’s parents brought him to Ziv Medical Center on Tuesday after four days of illness at home.

“The medical team immediately suspected meningitis and began extensive tests to identify the cause. Overnight, his condition deteriorated, and he is now on a ventilator and sedated. The cause of his condition is still under investigation,” hospital administrators said Wednesday.

If confirmed, this would mark the third known infection of Naegleria fowleri in Israel.

The first documented case was reported in August 2022 at Poriya Hospital after a patient had died of severe brain inflammation, with the amoeba only discovered post mortem.

Earlier this month, a 26-year-old man from central Israel died at Beilinson Hospital after being diagnosed with Naegleria fowleri.

It is suspected the man was infected while swimming in the Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee).

The Naegleria fowleri amoeba thrives in warm waters ranging from 35 degrees Celsius to 42 degrees Celsius and while in most cases those swimming in water containing the amoeba do not exhibit symptoms, occasionally the amoeba infects the victim’s brain after moving through the nasal cavity.

Among patients diagnosed with Naegleria fowleri, the fatality rate is 97%, with no effective treatments yet available.