The Department of Disease Control of the Thai Ministry of Health has issued a statement that human infections with the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria Fowleri, or Naegleria Fowler, are extremely rare.
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The announcement comes after a South Korean citizen died from amoebic meningoencephalitis, a deadly disease caused by Naegleria Fowlera, after returning to the country from a tourist trip to Thailand, in late December.
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In a statement, the department confirmed the death of a South Korean citizen from amoebic meningoencephalitis and the fact that the Korean citizen had visited Thailand shortly before his death. The Department expresses its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. However, the department’s specialists remind that amoebic meningoencephalitis infections are extremely rare in the world, and the geography of infections is limited not only to Thailand, but also to the Asian continent: Negleria Fowler’s amoeba is found in all countries of the world where there are natural fresh water reservoirs that are heated in the warm season to temperatures from 25 to 32 degrees Celsius. In total, over the entire history of observations, several hundred people have died from infection with a “brain-eating amoeba” around the world, the statement said.
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“Over the past 40 years (from 1982 to 2021), 17 cases of the disease were detected in Thailand, of which 14 were fatal. Of the 17 cases, 16 were Thai citizens, one was a Norwegian citizen,” the document also says.
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The Department of Disease Control is also educating the public on four simple ways to prevent disease:
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1) Avoid swimming, especially diving and diving in polluted natural freshwater reservoirs;
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2) Avoid getting water into the nose when you are near natural water bodies or on natural water bodies, the purity of which is not known, and if water gets into the nose, blow your nose quickly with force;
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3) In case of water getting into the nose, rinse the nose with boiled water with the addition of salt;
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4) If symptoms of headache, nausea, loss of smell appear after contact with fresh water in a natural source, immediately consult a doctor and tell him with all the details about the previous five to seven days and what kind of contact with fresh water you had during this time.
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“If an infection with amoebic meningoencephalitis is detected at its earliest stages, the disease is treatable,” the statement said.
