A few days ago, South Korea reported the first case of “brain-eating worm” on Internet’s hot search. South Korea’s “Chosun Ilbo” reported on December 26 that the South Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated on the 26th that a man who had stayed in Thailand and returned to his country died of sudden meningitis . brain-eating amoeba”) genes.
The infected person was a 50-year-old Korean male who had stayed in Thailand for 4 months. He returned to South Korea on the 10th and began to develop symptoms of meningitis on the evening of the 10th. He was transferred to the emergency room and died on the 21st. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered the gene of Naegleria fowleri through testing patient samples, and analyzed the nucleotide sequence of the gene. The results showed that it has 99.6% homology with the gene sequence of Naegleria fowleri in samples from overseas meningitis patients.
According to a report on October 24, based on news from ABC and Fox News, the Southern Nevada Health Department recently reported that a child in the state died after being infected with a “brain-eating amoeba” earlier this month. The department speculates that he may have contracted the infection while swimming in Lake Mead on the Arizona side . The National Park Service said it was the first death from the brain-eating amoeba at Lake Mead National Recreation Park.
The Texas Environmental Quality Commission issued a statement on October 25 stating that the Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as the “brain-eating worm”, may have been found in the water supply system in the southeastern part of the state , and recommended that the state’s eight Residents of the city should not use the water provided by the relevant water supply system.
Naegleria fowleri is a highly pathogenic single-celled protozoan, which can cause primary amoebic meningitis and even death in humans after infection. Cases of infection worldwide are rare, but when infected, symptoms develop rapidly, and can be fatal. It is mainly infected by humans during leisure activities such as swimming in lakes or rivers, and there are reports that humans use water contaminated by Naegleria fowleri to inject nasal irrigators to treat rhinitis and cause infection.
The protozoan passes through the nose and reaches the brain along the olfactory nerve. The incubation period is as short as 2 to 3 days and as long as 7 to 15 days. Symptoms such as headache, confusion, sense of smell and upper respiratory tract may appear in the early stages of infection . With the development of infection, the headache will gradually increase, and fever, vomiting, cervical spine stiffness, coma, and even death may occur.