Israeli Boy Hospitalized with Suspected Brain-Eating Amoeba

A 10-year-old Israeli has been hospitalized with encephalitis suspected of being caused by an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba, the country’s Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The boy is sedated and on a respirator at Ziv Medical Center in Safed.

Lab tests were being conducted for Naegleria fowleri, which thrives in waters ranging from 35 to 42 degrees Celsius (95 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit) and infects humans only in rare cases.

Earlier this month, a 26-year-old Israeli man died of a fowleri infection. He is suspected to have contracted it while swimming in the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias.

UPDATE: Doctors now believe the patients may have been infected at a water park.

The death was the second case ever reported in Israel and the first time the amoeba had been found in a living patient.

The first case of Naegleria fowleri was diagnosed in August 2022 at Poriya Medical Center near Tiberias in a deceased patient. The amoeba is only diagnosed about 10 times per year in the United States.