Zechariah’s Plague: 2nd Man dies from “brain-eating amoeba”
A man in Israel died from an extremely rare amoeba that causes encephalitis, also known as the brain-eating amoeba. The prophet Zechariah described plagues that away at the human body as accompanying the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog, leading some to speculate that this may be setting the stage for the final war that is beginning to unfold in Israel right now.
Beilinson Hospital announced on Sunday that a 26-year-old man died of Naegleria fowleri. The man is suspected to have contracted the amoeba while swimming at Gai Beach in Tiberias.
He was admitted on Tuesday to Hasharon Hospital at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah with a fever, headache, and vomiting. His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was diagnosed following a series of comprehensive tests. His condition deteriorated and he was transferred to the intensive care unit within the neurological department at Beilinson Hospital.
Health Ministry investigators conducted samples at the beach where he bathed and found no evidence of amoeba contamination.
This is the second case reported in Israel and the first time the amoeba has been discovered in a living patient. The first case, Naegleria fowleri, was diagnosed in August 2022 at Poriya Medical Center near Tiberias in a patient who had died. Amoeba is diagnosed only about 10 times yearly in the United States.
While infection is extremely rare, with only some 400 cases diagnosed worldwide, it is often fatal.
Naegleria fowleri is a free-living microorganism that primarily feeds on bacteria but can become pathogenic in humans causing an extremely rare, sudden, severe, and usually fatal brain infection known as naegleriasis or primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It is typically found in warm freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers, hot springs, warm water discharge from industrial or power plants, geothermal well water, and poorly maintained or minimally chlorinated swimming pools.
Zechariah describes plagues that eat away at the human body as accompanying the pre-Messiah War of Gog and Magog.
As for those peoples that warred against Yerushalayim, Hashem will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths. Zechariah 14:12
“The prophet described a disease that would accompany the War of Gog and Magog,” Rabbi Levy told Israel365 News. “The current outbreak is exceptional and appears to fit the prophet’s description but it is not nearly on the scale of what we will see before Moshiach (Messiah)”
“The plague that comes after Gog and Magog will be even worse than the Bubonic Plague the world saw in the Middle Ages, destroying a significant part of the world population,” Rabbi Levy said. “But it will afflict specifically the people who came out against the Jews.
The rabbi noted that this recent outbreak of such a horrifying disease may be a reminder to the public to pray for others.
“Right now we are just seeing wake-up calls, reminders that Moshiach is on the way,” Rabbi Levy said. “God works in stages. He could have created the world in one moment but he chose to do it in six days. The sunrise and sunset are gradual, coming in stages. The Messiah will work in the same way. There will be hints, small occurrences that will reappear in the final days.”
“This is God’s way of showing that even though many of the prophecies seem unlikely or even impossible, they are possible,” Rabbi Levy said. “It gives us a chance to see that everything prophesied about the Messiah can, indeed will happen and we need to prepare now and not when they appear in fullness. But by then, it will be too late.”
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