Hygiena 2019, 64(2):52-58 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a1708

16 victims and 16 years for elucidating the case. A reminder of the worst Czech bathing water epidemic in Ústí nad Labem

František Kožíšek¹, Eva Rychlíková², Petr Pumann¹

¹ Státní zdravotní ústav, Praha, Česká republika

² Zdravotní ústav se sídlem v Ústí nad Labem, Ústí nad Labem, Česká republika

The outbreak of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAME) occurred in Ústí nad Labem in the first half of the 1960s, where in total 16 young people (age 8 - 25) died in four clusters. Common exposure was swimming in one artificial swimming pool. Various bacteria were originally suspected as the causative infectious agent, but the true pathogen was identified not until 2 years after the outbreak. The reservoir of amoebas (cavern behind the front wall of the pool) was found even later - after another 11 years. It was not only the worst Czech outbreak relating to bathing waters in modern history, but also a unique event from a worldwide perspective due to the extent of the outbreak and also the environment of infection. Finally two additional sporadic cases of PAME in the Czech Republic are mentioned as well as the work of parasitologist Lubor Červa, who had the greatest merit in elucidating the cause of the outbreak. The purpose of this paper is to recall this extraordinary event, which is remembered by few people nowadays and some false notions are circulating. The risk of PAME may be still topical under certain conditions in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, epidemic, swimming pool water quality

Received: February 2019; Accepted: April 8, 2019; Published: June 13, 2019  Show citation