I am never swimming in a lake again!! Well...

Well, maybe. BUT...

Brain-Eating Amoeba Linked to 6 Deaths

An amoeba that typically lives in lakes and enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain has been linked to six deaths in the United States this year, federal health officials report.

Even though encounters with the single-celled organism are rare, it has killed six boys and young men this year. The increase in cases has health officials concerned, with predictions of more cases in the future, the Associated Press reported.

"This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the news service. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases."

According to the CDC, the amoeba is called Naegleria fowleri, and it killed 23 people in the United States from 1995 to 2004. But health officials have noticed a rise in cases this year, with three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since the microscopic bug's discovery in Australia in the 1960s, the AP said.

Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, subsisting off algae and bacteria in the sediment. People become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom, Beach said.

Symptoms of infection include a stiff neck, headaches and fever. In the later stages, victims will show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.

Once infected, most people have little chance of survival, the AP said.

"Two years ago, her son died from amoebic meningitis. 7 year old Brandon Hess was on a camping trip with his father at Lake Summerville. [Ed. note: Yes, this is the same lake where we went camping two weekends ago. I may have only a week to live...]

"He was swimming and he got water up his nose, and that is how they think it went in through his nose, and that's how he got it," said Brown.

Brandon suffered flu like symptoms, and was dead a week later. Since Brandon's death there have not been any reported cases of amebic meningitis in Texas, no cases, until now.

Friday, it was confirmed 22 year old Colby Sawyer of Lubbock was killed by the parasite after wake boarding in Lake LBJ.

12 year old Jack Herrera from the Austin area, died last month after swimming in Lake LBJ."

-----------

Okay, this is NOT the kind of thing that's fun to read after camping at Lake Somerville, swimming in the lake, and catching a cold. I'm sitting here sniffling and thinking, "Oh, God, I have a brain-eating amoeba up my nose!" It doesn't help that I had that awful headache yesterday. Or that I have a stiff neck, today. (Just kidding, but you know, it's pretty horrible, just the same. Yeah, yeah - I know you're thinking, "That would explain a lot.")

Anyway...

Might suggest to the kids (and adults) that they use nose-plugs and NOT do cannonballs off the canoes or docks. Note that boys seem to be more vulnerable than girls, and kids more than adults. (Perhaps because it's the boys who are most likely to be doing cannonballs.)

Comments

Yuck! Just when you thought it was safe to go back in ...

Posted by: Something Else | 10/02/2007 at 03:07 PM

EEewww!! I heard about this too! YUCK is right!

Posted by: musicchick2 | 10/02/2007 at 03:10 PM

Well, you know, I'm trying not to worry too much. Because:

(a) So far, my son seems fine. (I mean, as horrible as it would be to have this, it'd be worse to watch your kid get sick and die from it.)

(b) Sometimes, a cold or allergies are just...a cold, or allergies.

(c) If I do have amoebas eating my brain, there's no known cure and only a 3% survival rate. I'm gonna die.

(d) Time between onset of symptoms and death seems blessedly short. (See (b) above; I kind of think I'd know by now. Then again, onset of symptoms can occur any time up to 14 days after exposure...)

(e) I wasn't doing cannonballs. (Then again, I did dip my head in backwards in warm, chest-deep water to wet down and smooth out my hair - you know how us girls do. Good way to get water up the nasal passages.)

In one article, they wrote, "...anyone who exhibits flu-like symptoms who has been in a lake recently should see a doctor immediately." Why? There's no known effective treatment. You're gonna DIE. And I just know what most doctors would say if you went in and suggested something like this. I mean, I had a sore throat, sniffles, and a petechial rash on my shin - you should've seen the look on my doctor's face when I asked about meningococcal bacteremia... ;) Hey, one of those Internet sites said if you had been in a lake and had upper respiratory symptoms and a petechial rash, you'd better see a doctor because it could turn fatal in hours.

Here's some good medical advice for you: Stay off the Internet! LOL!

But on a more serious note, I do think people should be made aware of this before they go playing in warm lakes and rivers, and they should take reasonable precautions, like wearing nose-clips.

Posted by: Holly | 10/02/2007 at 03:33 PM

[this is good] OMG... Scary stuff! I knew I didn't swim in a lake this
summer for a reason... I just thought it was because I was afraid
of going out in public wearing a bathing suit! Teeheehee...

Posted by: Bee | 10/04/2007 at 03:21 PM