This is a 50-year-old person who returned to the country following having spent around four months in Thailand.
The South Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (Kdca) confirmed on Monday the country’s first case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba.
The Kdca reported that the microorganism, known as the ‘brain-eating amoeba’, was detected in a South Korean citizen who died following being admitted to a hospital with symptoms of meningitis.
According to the Yonhap agency, it is a 50-year-old person who returned to South Korea on December 10, following having stayed for regarding four months in Thailand. The patient died last Tuesday.
The South Korean health authorities detailed that the possibilities of person-to-person spread of ‘Naegleria fowleri’ are unknown. However, they warned the population to refrain from swimming in areas where the disease has been identified.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that infection usually occurs when the amoeba enters the body through the nose, when people swim or dive in warm freshwater sites, such as lakes and rivers.
Once lodged in the brain, the amoeba begins to destroy brain tissue, causing death.
The disease was first reported in the United States in 1937. By 2018, 381 cases of infection had been reported worldwide, including the US, India, and Thailand.
According to the CDC, the mortality rate from infection is greater than 97%, since of the 151 cases registered in the US between 1962 and 2020, only four were not fatal.
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