Yucatán Officials Rule Out More Brain-Eating Amoeba Infections at Mérida’s Plaza La Isla

Mérida, Yucatán — Health officials in Yucatán have ruled out any further infections from the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri at the artificial lake at Plaza La Isla in Mérida, saying no one else exposed at the site developed symptoms.

Alberto Alcocer Gamboa, head of Yucatán’s Health Services (SSY), said during Gov. Joaquín Díaz Mena’s morning press conference that the water body no longer poses a risk to people who took part in water activities there.

“Regarding the epidemiological monitoring of the people who were exposed in the body of water at Plaza La Isla, the monitoring process that began on Oct. 4 has been closed, and fortunately none of the more than 360 people who were exposed showed symptoms,” he said from the Government Palace. “The risk that these residents will develop the disease is now practically out of danger.”

The amoeba’s presence in the artificial lake caused the death of a man who worked as a water sports instructor — the first such case recorded in Yucatán.

Alcocer Gamboa said authorities are also monitoring other bodies of water in the state. Samples from those sites are being processed by the National Network of Public Health Laboratories, and results are expected this week.

Managers of water bodies including La Plancha park, the Centenario Zoo and Animaya had previously asked for testing to rule out the amoeba, he noted.

He added that an interinstitutional panel is working to define sanitation measures. A special commission has been created and met with those responsible for the Plaza La Isla water body, with two research and education institutions — the Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY) and the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) — offering to help carry out proper sanitation of that lake and of any other sites that test positive.

The SSY said it will continue to report on progress in the sanitation work and on the results from the other locations under analysis.