Seoul: South Korea reported its first case of infection from Naegleria fowleri, commonly referred to as “brain-eating amoeba”, health authorities said on Monday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed that a Korean national in his 50s had died after returning from Thailand. The man came back to South Korea on Dec 10 after a four-month stint there. He was admitted to a hospital the next day and died Wednesday last week.
The KDCA said it had conducted genetic tests on three types of pathogens causing Naegleria fowleri to confirm the cause of his death. The testing confirmed the gene in the man’s body was 99.6 per cent similar to that found in a meningitis patient reported abroad.
