The infection route of naegleria folweri (Courtesy of KDCA)
The infection route of naegleria folweri (Courtesy of KDCA)

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Monday that it had identified naegleria fowleri for the first time in the country in a person who died of meningitis after returning from an extended overseas stay.

Naegleria fowleri, a so-called free-living amoeba, is a highly pathogenic protozoan that causes fatal primary amoebic meningitis (PAM) by infecting humans, mice, and laboratory animals and leads them to death, according to KDCA.

The patient who returned home after staying in Thailand for four months was urgently transferred to a tertiary general hospital for meningitis symptoms. As a result of performing a causative pathogen verification test on the patient’s sample, naegleria fowleri has been identified in gene (18S rRNA) tests for three types of amoeba protozoa, a pathogen that causes amoeba encephalitis.

The analysis of the sequence listing (ITS gene) of the naegleria fowleri found in the dead patient was 99.6 percent identical to that confirmed in meningitis patients reported abroad.

The KDCA explained that it confirmed the infection by naegleria fowleri based on gene detection and high sequencing consistency.

There are few cases of naegleria fowleri infection worldwide. However, the symptoms progress quickly and are fatal; therefore, clinical recognition is essential for early diagnosis and treatment.

Naegleria fowleri infection usually occurs during swimming and leisure activities in lakes and rivers. Cases of infection through nasal washers are also reported after using them for religious purposes or rhinitis treatment with unclean water contaminated with the amoeba.

However, it is known that human-to-human transmission is impossible.

“To prevent the infection by naegleria fowleri, citizens are advised to take special care by avoiding swimming and leisure activities and using clean water when traveling to an area where its outbreak is reported,” KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said.

 

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