Israel's Health Ministry has reported that a 10-year-old boy has contracted a brain infection, and is unconscious and artificially respirated.
The boy is hospitalized at Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat.
On Wednesday morning, a test sample was sent to Health Ministry laboratories in order to investigate whether the child fell ill as a result of a rare amoeba, naegleria Fowleri.
The Health Ministry added that the child, suffering from an infection of the brain, is a resident of northern Israel, and prior to the current infection was healthy. He has no pre-existing medical conditions.
The Health Ministry is now conducting an epidemiological investigation, and will update the public as needed.
Earlier this month, a 26-year-old man died after contracting the primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a condition caused by the amoeba naegleria fowleri, also known as the "brain-eating amoeba."
Sources at Beilinson Medical Center, where the young man was hospitalized, emphasized that "from the moment the young man was hospitalized, the medical teams used all treatments available, including drugs and surgical intervention, in order to save his life, but his condition continued to deteriorate."
Only about 450 cases of naegleriasis caused by naegleria fowleri have been reported worldwide. The fatality rate is nearly 100%. Only seven people are known to have survived the disease.
The amoeba is found in fresh water, puddles, or stagnant water sources of various types.