Over 100 Israelis flocked to emergency rooms at several hospitals in northern Israel overnight Wednesday due to fears of having contracted the rare brain-eating amoeba [Naegleria fowleri] in the Kinneret.

Panic spread on Wednesday after the Health Ministry stated that a ten-year-old boy who is critically ill with the brain-eating amoeba likely contracted the infection at a water park at Gai Beach in Tiveria.

The boy, who is currently sedated and ventilated in the PICU at Ziv Hospital, was at the water park three weeks ago. Shortly beforehand, a 25-year-old man who was at the same water park died only days after being diagnosed with encephalitis caused by the brain-eating amoeba.

The boy, who has no underlying health conditions, is the third person ever diagnosed in Israel with the rare amoeba. Only 400 cases have ever been diagnosed worldwide.

Forty Israelis, adults and children, who were at Gai Beach and feared they were suffering from symptoms of encephalitis caused by the amoeba arrived at the emergency room at Poriyah Hospital near Tiveria.

“Following an examination in the emergency room, 36 were released home and four children were hospitalized for further testing and observation,” the medical center stated on Thursday morning.

About another 60 people who swam in the Kinneret and complained of symptoms such as fever or neck pain, showed up at the emergency rooms of Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Emek Hospital in Afula, Ziv Hospital in Tzfas, and the Galil Medical Center in Nahariya. Five children were hospitalized at Ziv for further testing but the rest were fortunately found to be in good health and were released.

The Health Ministry closed the park on Wednesday [although inspectors found no evidence of contamination at the site] and called on anyone who was there in the past two weeks to seek immediate medical treatment if experiencing symptoms such as headache, fever, vomiting, or blurred vision.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)