Movement of fatal amoeba infection case in Taiwan revealed | Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An investigation found that the woman who visited a New Taipei indoor aquatic facility and subsequently died from a rare brain-eating amoeba infection had not visited other places for aquatic activities, according to health authorities.

Marking the first such case in Taiwan in 12 years, a Taipei resident in her 30s died a week after she was infected by Naegleria fowleri in July. The source of the infection has yet to be identified, but she had visited an unspecified aquatic facility in New Taipei, prompting the venue to close for disinfection and examination to find traces of amoeba.

The woman did not visit any other place for aquatic recreation except the New Taipei facility on July 21, nor had she traveled abroad recently, said the Taipei City Department of Health on Sunday (Aug. 13).

Tests have shown that the pools at the premises did not meet recommended chlorine levels. Results of further sample testing and DNA sequencing will be published in three weeks, per CNA.

As of Friday (Aug. 11), a spot check suggested five out of the 31 businesses that were inspected in New Taipei did not meet the required chlorination standards, and they were ordered to make improvements. Of the 630 who went to the same facility as the woman did between July 21 and Aug. 9, 585 did not exhibit symptoms, and 45 remained unreachable, according to the city’s health agency.

Hwang Kao-pin (黃高彬), an official of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, told SETN that the case was extremely unusual because the brain-eating amoeba usually lives in freshwater bodies, not tap water. Therefore, the probe should focus on finding if other sources of water were drawn to the New Taipei facility, or if there were leaks on the pool walls or water purification systems that led to the Naegleria fowleri contamination.