Boy seriously ill after pool swim

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32711, 14 September 1971, Page 1

Boy seriously ill after pool swim

(New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, September 13. A 12-year-old Hamilton boy is critically ill in Waikato Hospital with a rare form of amoebic meningitis, believed contracted from a hot mineral pool at Matamata.

The same pool was linked with the deaths of four youths in July, 1968. All four had been in the pool not long before their deaths from meningoencephalitis, an extremely rare form of amoebic meningitis.

The Medical Officer of Health in Hamilton (Dr J. F. Dawson) confirmed today that the latest meningitis was “very likely” the same as that which killed the 1968 victims.

Dr Dawson said that the pool had been closed pending a Health Department investigation, and was likely to stay closed for some' time. “At our suggestion the pool was closed and we have done everything possible to prevent a recurrence. I cannot at this stage say if this was the only case. We will just have to wait and see.” All doctors in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty have been notified of the recurrence of the rare disease. The boy and three com-

panions spent some time in the pool, at the Crystal Hot Springs, last week. All four were admitted to hospital. The assistant medical superintendent at Waikato Hospital (Dr R. E. Wright St Clair) said today that tests on the other children had proved negative. Dr Dawson said information on the amoeba was still very skimpy. It could enter the brain through the nose. It lived in the soil but could get washed into a pool or stream.

The owner of the Crystal Hot Springs (Mr J. C. Graham) said today that the outdoor pool involved had been closed, for two years after the 1968 deaths.

It was reopened 12 months ago, after modification, because of public demand and negative results from investigations. The pool is about 100 yards away, and quite detached, from the resort’s main complex of a large camping ground, motel, playing areas, and enclosed pool. The enclosed pool, using natural hot water for a heatexchange system only, Was built after the 1968 fatalities when the whole resort was closed. It cost $lOO,OOO.

The deadly amoeba, which .is believed responsible for ’ four deaths and the latest ’ case of meningitis, has been under investigation at Wai- ■ kato Hospital for the last ’ three years. s It was found only in 1965 to be fatal. The main rei corded outbreaks of • the disease it causes were in . Australia in 1965, when four people died, and Virginia in 1967, when seven died. I Dr B. N. Mandal, medical > bacteriologist at Waikato J Hospital, has been studying a 1 culture kept alive from the ) spinal fluid of one of the ! 1968 victims. 1 Dr Wright St Clair said to--1 day that the project had > never ceased. Various experi--7 ments had been conducted on 7 the amoeba’s natural history } and its response to various ) drugs. ) Meningo-encephalitis, is ex--5 tremely rare. Its symptoms 5 i were similar to ordinary

meningitis—headaches, fever, and neck stiffness. Dr Wright St Clair said that the latest outbreak could not be explained. Open-air pools were filled with amoebae.

Questions to be answered were why the amoeba suddenly became pathogenic after three years and why it remained quiescent for that time. It appeared that it was an ordinary sort of amoeba which suddenly became dangerous and then reverted to its ordinary state.