Brain Eating Amoebas in Lakes

[Autumn2004]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/...H8W2.ap5la24cA

PHOENIX - It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future.

According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the amoeba a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu, a popular man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California.


Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment.

"Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," he said.

"For a week, everything was fine," Evans said.


Then Aaron got the headache that wouldn't go away. At the hospital, doctors first suspected meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another hospital in Las Vegas.


"He asked me at one time, 'Can I die from this?'" David Evans said. "We said, 'No, no.'"


On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as his father held him in his arms.
"He was brain dead," Evans said. Only later did doctors and the CDC determine that the boy had been infected with Naegleria.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/...H8W2.ap5la24cA

[tiredblondy]

So sad! My son is a Navy diver I hope he knows about this

[AmandaBrown23]

this completely freaks me out

[sassy_texasbelle2]

A young man from Lubbock died from this a couple of weeks ago. So sad. You never think going into a lake to swim could kill you by something you cannot even see.


http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories...90807058.shtml

[angelmom]

All these weird germ stories are freaking me out.

Right now there is a child from our school with e. Coli and a man from our church with West Nile. Both are in ICU.

I'm about to turn into Howard Hughes with the hand washing and not touching door handles.

[IrishMist]

The whole idea of this germ/bacteria/whatever totally and completely freaks me out.

[IrishMist]

Originally Posted by angelmom

All these weird germ stories are freaking me out.

Right now there is a child from our school with e. Coli and a man from our church with West Nile. Both are in ICU.

I'm about to turn into Howard Hughes with the hand washing and not touching door handles.

People tease me because I try not to touch hand railings, door knobs, etc, any more than I have to. If I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, I'll slip the sleeve down over my hand so I'm not touching the railing.

[concernedperson]

Originally Posted by IrishMist

People tease me because I try not to touch hand railings, door knobs, etc, any more than I have to. If I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, I'll slip the sleeve down over my hand so I'm not touching the railing.

Honestly, it is the best thing you can do to prevent colds and flu besides washing your hands several/many times a day. I get freaked shaking someone's hand in the height of flu season. Don't even like to be around hospitals at that time of year either. You wouldn't believe the numbers of medical staff that don't wash their hands entering a hospital room.

[Marthatex]

Originally Posted by sassy_texasbelle2

A young man from Lubbock died from this a couple of weeks ago. So sad. You never think going into a lake to swim could kill you by something you cannot even see.


http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories...90807058.shtml

Lake LBJ, that's near me!!! I live on a lake and my husband waterskis. That article makes it sound like it's a COMMON Amoeba, but UNCOMMON to get the infection.

I fear it is because we had so much rain and flooding this spring and summer that alot of septic tanks, etc. dumped into the lake. For a long time it was closed. I don't care to swim in the lake anymore.

[sassy_texasbelle2]

Originally Posted by Marthatex

Lake LBJ, that's near me!!! I live on a lake and my husband waterskis. That article makes it sound like it's a COMMON Amoeba, but UNCOMMON to get the infection.

I fear it is because we had so much rain and flooding this spring and summer that alot of septic tanks, etc. dumped into the lake. For a long time it was closed. I don't care to swim in the lake anymore.

You might let your hubby read this so maybe he will get a nose plug when he is out on the waterskis. I do not blame you I think I would stay out of that lake, or any lake for a while.

[SieSie]

Originally Posted by AmandaBrown23

this completely freaks me out

Me too!!! Just one more thing to add to the list of my fear of water - except this one's way more real than Jaws!!

[FACE-IT]

Originally Posted by Marthatex

Lake LBJ, that's near me!!! I live on a lake and my husband waterskis. That article makes it sound like it's a COMMON Amoeba, but UNCOMMON to get the infection.

I fear it is because we had so much rain and flooding this spring and summer that alot of septic tanks, etc. dumped into the lake. For a long time it was closed. I don't care to swim in the lake anymore.

There are probably super strains of amoeba, and paramecium, now. Just as the bacteria, and viruses, grow stronger, and become more drug resistant, because of the drugs we take, the since the drugs we take end up back in our water, and septic tanks, then that bacteria, virus, and amoeba, and paramecium, become stronger, and more drug resistant. They have programs now for recycling the drugs we have left in our medicine cabinets, as people were dumping them down their toilets, and they end up effecting, and infecting, our marine life.

[poco]

Originally Posted by SieSie

Me too!!! Just one more thing to add to the list of my fear of water - except this one's way more real than Jaws!!

I remember hearing about this back in the 1980's when I lived in Texas. They said, then, that it occurred mainly in very warm waters, lakes, ponds, etc.

[2sisters]

I recently went back to school as a grown up and we just got done studying this in microbiology.

[AmandaBrown23]

Okay now I am even more scared, I didnt see that it kills you in 2 weeks! YOu dont even have time to prepare. Omg

[Marthatex]

Originally Posted by sassy_texasbelle2

You might let your hubby read this so maybe he will get a nose plug when he is out on the waterskis. I do not blame you I think I would stay out of that lake, or any lake for a while.

Yes, our lake gets quite warm in the summer, too. Luckily, if you wear a life jacket, your head stays above water most of the time.

[Marthatex]

Originally Posted by 2sisters

I recently went back to school as a grown up and we just got done studying this in microbiology.

Is it drug resistant?

[CaliKid]

Well, there's no known cure. They've tested drugs in the lab, but it sounds like you're dead before they know what killed you.

[2sisters]

Originally Posted by Marthatex

Is it drug resistant?

I had to look in my notes, there is no effective treatment

[concernedperson]

Originally Posted by Marthatex

Yes, our lake gets quite warm in the summer, too. Luckily, if you wear a life jacket, your head stays above water most of the time.

I wouldn't be getting in that lake at all. This stuff is pretty scary and people with an impaired immune system could be more vulnerable than others.

[FACE-IT]

This gives a whole new meaning to global warming.

[Camper]

Horrible.

As an older woman I sold water treatment systems for a time. Another parasite to be aware of and maybe most people already are is crytosporidium. We had an extensive training period about water!!!

This particular parasite can make its way through most water filters!! It will infiltrate your intestines and cause all types of intestinal problems. Giardia is another one celled parasite that can cause health problems.

You can read at this link about the symptoms

http://health.yahoo.com/topic/digest...90CD2605E84781

.

[SieSie]

Originally Posted by Camper

Horrible.

As an older woman I sold water treatment systems for a time. Another parasite to be aware of and maybe most people already are is crytosporidium. We had an extensive training period about water!!!

This particular parasite can make its way through most water filters!! It will infiltrate your intestines and cause all types of intestinal problems. Giardia is another one celled parasite that can cause health problems.

You can read at this link about the symptoms

http://health.yahoo.com/topic/digest...90CD2605E84781

.

This is where I go back to sticking my head in the sand about what all is out there. There are A LOT of things in this world that I'd just rather not know/think about.

[concernedperson]

Originally Posted by SieSie

This is where I go back to sticking my head in the sand about what all is out there. There are A LOT of things in this world that I'd just rather not know/think about.

That is not a bad place to be.IMO

[IrishMist]

Originally Posted by SieSie

This is where I go back to sticking my head in the sand about what all is out there. There are A LOT of things in this world that I'd just rather not know/think about.

Works for me, too.